The Ofi Press Magazine
International Poetry and Literature from Mexico City
By S.J. Litherland (UK). Published in Issue 30. Traducción por Karenina Osnaya. The North East Special Edition: Displacement (Part 2). A WORD FOR WARWICKSHIRE
She gives me five words to take to Warwickshire. But none fit. There is no magnificence in tiny fields hedged with many trees, stable, enduring, no provocation from the village cricket pitch closed down for winter, or even a little shambles in the orderly fireworks and roped off bonfire. Only flames have ancient tongues, ceaseless, primeval, talk to the air but nothing quizzical. They die down, brooding over ashes like wolves over their kill. Is there a paltriness in my contentment to be home? I breathe the air of Warwickshire at the end of a lifetime, passion no longer my concern. In dull November, the trees expose their bones. I take my age to my birthplace. The traveller looks back towards home, writes Po Chu-i in his little poem. There is a word, Topophilia coined by geographer Yi-Fu Tuan from topos (place) and philo (love), a love not insignificant. My mother tongue comforts me with its chime. I brood over cadences of my lost parlance – there is no word for Warwickshire except time. |
Traducción
UNA PALABRA PARA WARWICKSHIRE
Por S.J. Litherland (Traducción por Karenina Osnaya)
Ella me da cinco palabras para llevar a Warwickshire.
Pero ninguna queda. No hay magnificencia en pequeños campos
rodeado de muchos árboles, estable, resistiendo,
sin provocación por el cierre del campo de cricket por
el invierno, o si quiera un poco de desorden en los
ordenados fuegos artificiales y fogatas controladas. Sólo flamas
tienen lenguas antiguas, incesantes, primitivas, palabras
al aire pero nada perplejo. Se mueren,
taciturnos sobre las cenizas como lobos sobre sus presas.
Existe algo risorio en mi alegría de estar en casa?
Yo respiro el aire de Warwickshire al final
De una vida, pasión no es ya mi interés.
En gris Noviembre, los árboles exponen mis huesos.
Yo llevo mi edad a mi lugar natal. El viajero
ve atrás hacia el lugar, escribe Po Chu-i
en su pequeño poema. Hay un mundo, Topophilia
acuñado por el geógrafo Yi-Fu Tuan de topo
(lugar) y philo (amor), un amor no insignifgicante.
Mi lengua madre me reconoforta con su repique.
Yo añoro sobre cadencias de mi perdido parlar-
no hay palabra para Warwickshire excepto el tiempo.
About the poet
‘Bad Light’ from The Homage was selected for sports anthology Not Just a Game (Five Leaves Press) and broadcast on Radio 3 in the Words and Music Series.
She has won two Northern Writers’ Awards, 1993, 2000. Her poems have been commended twice in the National Poetry Competition: ‘Songster’, 2003 and ‘Springtime of the Nations’, 2012.