Post by mfwilkie on Feb 20, 2009 13:32:27 GMT -5
I need a drink and poems of extraction
to catch my breath—not half a loaf
of distraction.
Once upon a time we were naked
and ruined the desert
for every Valentino
who has ever suffered rejection.
The Original: (about 1100)
Tongi-ye may-e la'l kh'aham o divani
Sadd-e ramaghi bayad o nesf-e nani
Vanagh man o to neshasteh dar virani
Khostar bovad as mamlekat-e soltani.
A Literal translation of the rubai:
I want a jug of ruby wine and a book of poems.
there must be something to stop my breath from departing, and a loaf of bread.
Then you and I sitting in some deserted ruin
would be sweeter than the realm of a sultan.
Edward Fitzgerald's translation (1879):
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
Oh, Wilderness were paradise enow!
Robert Rraves and Omar Ali-Shah's Translation (1968):
Our Day's Portion
Should our day's portion be one mancel loaf,
A haunch of mutton and a gourd of wine
Set for us two alone on the wide plain,
No Sultan's bounty could evoke such joy.
Translation by Dick Davis (1992):
I Need a Bare Sufficiency
I need a bare sufficiency—red wine,
Some poems, half a loaf on which to dine
With you beside me in some ruined shrine
A King's state then is not as sweet as mine!
to catch my breath—not half a loaf
of distraction.
Once upon a time we were naked
and ruined the desert
for every Valentino
who has ever suffered rejection.
The Original: (about 1100)
Tongi-ye may-e la'l kh'aham o divani
Sadd-e ramaghi bayad o nesf-e nani
Vanagh man o to neshasteh dar virani
Khostar bovad as mamlekat-e soltani.
A Literal translation of the rubai:
I want a jug of ruby wine and a book of poems.
there must be something to stop my breath from departing, and a loaf of bread.
Then you and I sitting in some deserted ruin
would be sweeter than the realm of a sultan.
Edward Fitzgerald's translation (1879):
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
Oh, Wilderness were paradise enow!
Robert Rraves and Omar Ali-Shah's Translation (1968):
Our Day's Portion
Should our day's portion be one mancel loaf,
A haunch of mutton and a gourd of wine
Set for us two alone on the wide plain,
No Sultan's bounty could evoke such joy.
Translation by Dick Davis (1992):
I Need a Bare Sufficiency
I need a bare sufficiency—red wine,
Some poems, half a loaf on which to dine
With you beside me in some ruined shrine
A King's state then is not as sweet as mine!
