Tomaž Šalamun

slovenščina

Michael Biggins

angleščina

LJUDSKA

Vsak pravi pesnik je pošast.
Glas uničuje in ljudi.
Petje zgradi tehniko, ki uničuje
zemljo, da nas ne bi jedli črvi.
Pijanček proda plašč.
Lopov proda mater.
Samo pesnik proda dušo, da jo
loči od telesa, ki ga ljubi.

© Tomaž Šalamun
Iz: Maske
Ljubljana : Mladinska knjiga, 1980
Avdio produkcija: Študentska založba

FOLK SONG

Every true poet is a monster.
He destroys people and their speech.
His singing elevates a technique that wipes out
the earth so we are not eaten by worms.
The drunk sells his coat.
The thief sells his mother.
Only the poet sells his soul to separate it
from the body that he loves.

Translated by Michael Biggins

from: Tomaž Šalamun: Four Questions of Melancholy. Translated by Michael Biggins
(c) by White Pine Press www.whitepine.org