Antjie Krog

sedert

Language: afrikaans

Translations: english (since we), german (seit wir), dutch (sinds)

sedert

ons die pad begin loop
het, het die irisse
uitgeblom die verla-
te oogballe van die
ligbloues die gevou-
de stil vlermuise van
die perses sedert ons

die pad begin loop het
het die gras in die saad
gekom het die botter-
blomme hulle blare soos
naelknipsels laat val
die japonikas wat
soos kamerjasse tus-
sen die seders hang is

bruin van die takke ge-
pluk sedert ons die pad
begin loop het, het die
bloureën se blink ponie-
sterte uitgeblom het
die waterval banksias
haar ineenstorting vol-
tooi sedert ons die pad

begin loop het, het die
swaels begin terugvou
die jasmyne diep uit
hul slagare begin
geur die sneeu op die spit-
se gesmelt sedert ons
die pad begin loop het
het ‘n man geluidloos

agteroor gekantel
deur die lug wat ons in-
asem ag, dis al die
lug van die aarde oor-
weldig met die dun ge-
luid van verdriet sedert
ons die pad begin loop
het word ons saans donker

van tong en vertaal ons
ontbinding ons enkels
ruik reeds die reuk. maar god!
hoe sterk ons dye hoe
vurig hoe vlug van fi-
ligraan die hart wat ha-
merend die niet in neuk

Translations:

Language: english

since we

since we started walking
this road the irises
finished blooming the still
abandoned eyeballs of
the light blue ones the plush
folded bats of the purple row since

we started this road the
grass now gasps away seed
the buttercups have dropped
their leaves like nail clippings
the camelia's bathrobe
among the cedars withered from the

branches since we started
the road the tough pony-
tails of the wisteria
fell in disrepute the
banksia waterfall
finished her fatal plunge since we have

started walking this road
the swallows came back we
can smell the jasmine from
its jugular the snow
melted from the mountains
since we started a man tumbled back-

wards into all this air
what we breathe is the air
of whole this world the sky
overwhelmed in writings
of grief at dusk we do
become dark of tongue as we translate

disintegration our
ankles reek mortal but
god how strong our thighs have
become since we walked this
road how fierce how savage
our filigree as the heart bangs in terror

Language: german

seit wir

seit wir zu gehen begannen
auf diesem weg hörten die schwertlilien
zu blühen auf die stillen
verlassenen augäpfel der
hellblauen die vornehmen
hängenden fledermäuse der lila reihe seit

wir diesen weg gehen das
gras keucht nun samen hervor
die butterblumen ließen
ihre blätter fallen wie nagelabfälle
der bademantel der kamelie
zwischen den zedern welkte von den

ästen seit dem beginn
des weges die harten pferde-
schwänze der glystinien
gerieten in verruf der
banksien wasserfall
beendete seinen tödlichen sturz seit wir

diesen weg zu gehen begannen
kamen die schwalben zurück wir
können den jasmin riechen von
seiner halsader der schnee
schmolz von den bergen
seit wir begannen stürzte ein mann rück-

wärts in all diese luft
was wir atmen ist die luft
dieser ganzen welt der himmel
überwältigt in texten
vom schmerz in der dämmerung werden auch wir
dunkelzüngig bei der übersetzung

des zerfalls unsere
knöchel stinken sterblich doch
bei gott wie stark unsere schenkel geworden
sind seit wir diesen weg
gingen wie grimmig wie wild
unser filigranes während das herz entsetzt hämmert

Language: dutch

sinds

wij deze weg zijn ingeslagen
zijn de irissen
uitgebloeid: de verla-
te oogbollen van de
lichtblauwe de gevou-
wen vleermuizen van
de paarse sinds wij

deze weg zijn ingeslagen
heeft het gras zaad
gekregen hebben de boter-
bloemen hun blaadjes als
nagelrandjes laten vallen
de camelia’s die
als kamerjassen tus-
sen de ceders hangen zijn

bruin van de bruine takken ge-
plukt sinds wij deze weg
zijn ingeslagen, zijn de
heldere ponystaarten van de
blauweregen uitgebloeid
hebben de azalea’s
hun bladerval vol-
tooid sinds wij deze weg

zijn ingeslagen, zijn de
zwaluwen weergekeerd
is de jasmijn diep uit
haar slagaderen begonnen
te geuren is de sneeuw op de top-
pen gesmolten sinds wij
deze weg zijn ingeslagen
is een man geluidloos

achterover getuimeld
door de lucht die we in-
ademen ach, het is alle
lucht van de aarde over-
weldigd door het iele ge-
luid van verdriet sinds
wij deze weg zijn ingeslagen
worden we ’s avonds donker

van tong en vertalen we
ontbinding onze enkels
ruiken de geur al. maar god!
hoe sterk onze dijen hoe
vurig hoe vlug van fi-
ligrein het hart dat ha-
merend beukt in het niets

Antjie Krog

* 23.10.1952, Kroonstad, South Africa
lives in: Cape Town, South Africa

Anna Elizabeth (Antjie) Krog was born in 1952 into a family of authors - her mother is the famous Afrikaans writer Dot Serfontein - and made her debut as an Afrikaans poet while still in school, when in 1970 at the age of 18, her first volume of poetry, Dogter van Jefta was published. In 1972 her second volume, Januarie-suite, was published, and in 1973 it received the Eugène Marais Award. She completed a BA Degree and an Honors Degree in English (1973) at the University of the Free State and in 1976, she completed an MA Degree in Afrikaans at the University of Pretoria.

Her volume of poetry Jerusalemgangers was awarded the Rapport Prize in 1987, and in 1990 she received the Hertzog Prize for poetry for her volume Lady Anne.

In 1993 she was appointed at the magazine Die Suid-Afrikaan, and in 1995 she started working as a political reporter for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Antjie reported on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s hearings from 1996 to 1998. She chronicled her experiences regarding this process in the non-fiction book for which she is best known - Country of My Skull. The book is an intersectional, interdisciplinary analysis of the Commission's potential and realized effects on post-Apartheid South Africa; an amalgamation of journalism, prose, personal narrative, and poetry. The book was published in 1998 by Random House SA. Initially written in Afrikaans, the book has now been published in various countries. It was later made into a film, entitled In My Country, starring Juliette Binoche and Samuel L. Jackson. The book received, amongst others, the Alan Paton Award for non-fiction and the Olive Schreiner Prize.

Antjie Krog’s only stage play, Waarom is die wat voor toyi-toyi altyd so vet?, was performed in 1999 under the direction of Marthinus Basson and ’n Ander tongval was adapted for the stage by Saartjie Botha and starred Antoinette Kellerman and Nina Swart.

Down to My Last Skin, her first collection of poetry in English (published by Random House SA in 2000, as was A Change of Tongue, three years later) won the inaugural 2000 FNB Vita Poetry Award. For her journalistic work Krog has received the Pringle Award as well as the Foreign Correspondent Award and was honoured by the Hiroshima Peace Foundation. She has also been the recipient of the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award. Kleur kom nooit alleen nie was awarded the first RAU (now University of Johannesburg) Prize for creative writing in 2001.

Her volume Met woorde soos met kerse in which her Afrikaans translations and adaptations of South African indigenous language poems (including the San languages) are contained, was awarded first place in the South African Translators Institute’s Competition (held every three years) in 2003. In 2004, her volume of poetry Die sterre sê ‘tsau’ was published by Kwela Books and subsequently shortlisted for the 2005 M-Net Poetry Prize.

She has been an extraordinary Professor of Literature and Philosophy at the University of the Western Cape since 2004. Her translation of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, into Afrikaans, entitled, Lang pad na vryheid, was published in 2000.

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