Today’s prompt referenced Anne Carson’s contemporary translation of Sappho’s Fragment 58, inspiring me to pursue my own translation of a poem from the only second language I know well enough to attempt. Below is my translation of BLANKONG PAPEL by Esther G Maranan.
Blank Paper
I will write words of poetry
Though you will never read nor receive this
Though only I truly notice and make claim
For I am rather curious, and creative
Surrounded by quietude and yearning to write
All that I want to confess is poured forth
The miscellany bubbling inside my brain
These words I can only put to paper
Hard as it may be to understand my feeling
Such is the process of unburdening
My heart filled with resentment and running
Now given voice by blank paper in hand
The times of grumbling crying in corners
For no one takes notice of mournful eyes
Always a smile, though sorrow lives within
Let the face never lay bare the bitterness of soul
There are words that only paper can scream
Because our lips cannot bear to recite them
Heartfelt sorrows and anger desperately carved
Scratched on a paper that sticks to the wall