“You will not leave until
I hold a mirror, up to you”…
HAMLET
While gold and dollars pile up in banks
and smoke from gunpowder spirals in the air,
I stand, outfitted, in the village church
before I pass from There to Here.
I believe that gold will search out a weapon,
because gold kills, but it can also cure,
and, after inflicting a deep wound in the flesh,
doctors will be summoned, and wide press is sure.
If a banking expert observes the currency flow
from funds is falling, he’ll blare, in a last hope,
a loudspeaker cry over the bombarded crowd
to vibrate there in air filled with smoke.
Gold and dollars pile up in the vaults,
and thoughts of threats have not yet left me.
I stand, outfitted, in a humble village church
before I pass from There to Here.
Or maybe from Here to There,
I don’t know, because I’ve never been
one to follow rules…I chose, not a
broad way but the narrow track, maybe
it will lead me on the path to Golgotha.
The storm of my passions tempted me to stray,
but, in the stillness of my darkest nights,
repentance washed my daytime sins away
and I always sought out with care the lowly
village priest, in preference to the patriarch,
and that’s why I ask Bernanos [i] to forgive me.
I want my Motherland [ii] to understand me perfectly.
I cried out these words in Genoa the first time
when searching for the lowly deacon of a hamlet
rather than any patriarch or pope of the divine.
In short, I chose stalls over a box at the theatre. [iii]
No matter how far a man may venture,
if he chooses the box and is fired up by glory,
his unsteady steps, stung with success, surely
won’t despise the humble parish pastor,
while a chronicler depicts the moments
he praises as receiver, rather than donor…
Trust me, from the lowly stall here,
gold will always find its way quite clear.
For backsliding Puritans who no longer believe the Pope,
a chaotic NGO creates an impossible mission, and like:
– Duchamp’s fountain,
– Cage’s sound of silence [iv]
– and the moustache on the Mona Lisa, [v]
common ethics are immediately turned upside-down.
They gave the order and fired the barrels,
declaring “Last Tango in Paris” is a movie for kids.
– Notify the schools!
– Notify the children!
aesthetics should follow in the way of ethics
and in Adam’s soul, the wounds must deepen…
Let’s leave the victims to dry figures,
then gold can easily seek out its weapon.
I captured a moment, a moment of truth,
and, from then on, I began to believe in martyrs.
With my lines of verse, I am attempting
to print a picture of life caught in a snare.
In the streets of Paris, Cartier Bresson lured life
into a trap, and Fellini wished his audience to remember
that the Palace always has coffered ceilings *.
Because the previous line needed a footnote, a line
of explanation, in the future, I will try
to take my reader along with me, to simplify
my words, and wherever I venture, to seek
you out, You, the true Word. [vi]
In the end, you may well ask
what kind of temptation is this poem about,
or how does it meet the thundering title,
in what light and with which thoughts?
What blizzard blows, and blows from where,
and how does it affect the Prince of Denmark here?
The liberal needs an alibi for his protests,
the patriots an alibi for sanctions imposed,
oh, yes. Why Hamlet and wherefore?
… To give my life to both friend and foe.
Farewell… I am going far…. to the afterworld
and leave behind a mirror for this era
so that it may truly spy its innermost soul.
*See Maestro Fellini’s Amarcord.
Translators Note
This poem is rhymed. Dato uses different rhyme types, including syllabic and end rhyme, echo rhyme, assonance, consonance, and homophones. So, if the target language allows the translator, it’s highly preferable to translate wherever possible.
Endnotes
[i] The poet refers to Georges Bernanos and his novel “The Diary of a Country Priest”
[ii] Country (in Latin)
[iii] Theatre box
[iv] Poet refers to and mocks John Cage’s composition 4’33”, in which during 4 minutes silence is heard.
[v] The implication here is that the degradation of art (Duchamp’s Fountain, Cage’s sound, Mona Lisa’s moustache) leads to the feeling of helplessness and moral degradation.
[vi] God
