Light

I've noticed a while ago that my "Categories" sidebar stopped working, for some mysterious reason, probably while TypePad was being upgraded. Since I wasn't posting and had no time to spare to figure it out (as usual, I assumed it was MY fault), I just let it go, but it bothered me: I couldn't find anything anymore.

So this a.m. I opened a help ticket with the nice folks at TypePad and lo! Sidebar restored. 

This has got to be the most boring customer service story EVER, I realize that, I do. But it's the most excitement my life can take right now. Sad, no?

In other news, I've become some sort of a sleeper hit, and by hit I mean, of course, that, apart from myself, two or more people seem to visit this blog, some even from time to time, even though I haven't really posted in over a year... and some others (gasp!) even leave comments, which, while deeply appreciated when I eventually discovered them, have been left to linger due to my aforementioned lack of activity on this blog. Guys, I'm sorry: I'll get there, I promise!

In the meantime, I've been translating alright, just not anything I actually enjoy or that's worth posting about (unless you're into complex clinical trial protocols and nauseatingly patriotic exemplary stories. Um...more on that later.)

But since it's Easter here, I'm going to post a short translation I did a while ago, by Tudor Arghezi, who, just in case you forgot, used to be an Orthodox monk for four years before settling on a career as a poet. I'm smiling right not because hey, those two career choices, one after the other? It would be really nice to have those kind of options today, you know?

What follows is the Romanian original, a quick and dirty literal translation, and a more polished and rhyming one:

Lumină by Tudor Arghezi Azi e sărbătoare mare, Îmbracă-te frumos, Pune-n păr felii de soare Şi nu privi în jos... Şterge orice supărare Din inima ta: Azi primeşte fiecare Lumină de stea. Nici o zi din calendare, Oricît ai căuta, N-are-aşa putere mare: Ne vom înălţa, Ne vom înălţa ! Ne vom înălţa, Ne vom înălţa, Ne vom înălţa, Ne vom înălţa, Ne vom înălţa, Ne vom înălţa !

Light Today is a big holiday Put on your Sunday best, Put slices of sun in your hair And don’t look down…   Erase any sorrow From your heart: Today everybody receives Light of a star.   No day in calendars, No matter how hard you look, Has such big power: We will rise, We will rise! etc.

Light A big holiday’s in the air Put on your best gown, Put slices of sun in your hair And don’t look down…   Your heart shouldn’t grieve Erase every scar: Today we all receive Light from a star.   In the calendars, no day No matter how long you seek Has such mighty sway: We shall rise! We shall rise! We shall rise! We shall rise! We shall rise! We shall rise! We shall rise! We shall rise!

Now, I've stopped celebrating Easter when my current religious views became incompatible with it, and by my "current" religious views I of course mean my non-existent religious views. Still, this poem made me smile, in a wise-but-candid sort of way, and so I'm going to share.

No perilous linguistic waters to cross with this one, just some tinkering here and there; this was pleasant to translate, almost (dare I say?) a breeze! Unlike Morgestimmung, Arghezi's mini-masterpiece, which has been causing me headaches for about two years (that's when I first decided to pursue its translation). This should answer a comment somebody left a while ago: yes, I have though about translating Morgenstimmung, and no, I have not been able to, not yet anyway. I have a pathetic attempt, an ersatz translation, if you will... it's fiendishly difficult and I'm starting to belive it's close to impossible (cue action music: Translation Impossible, as I hang by a thread over the alarm-tripping laser beams, but all my high-tech arsenal just can't unlock the secrets of that safe! bah!). Apparently, a competent translation exists in German, go figure! If any of you know of an English version, enlighten me, for I'm just about to give up!