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From Marc Ecko Enterprises.
I put my hand to another Rilke poem to translate, this time Abishag. My previous attempt of his poem “Autumn Day” is here, and I realize that I never posted my translation of his poem “The Beggars”, which I’ll try to post in a few days.
I’m not quite as happy with this one as with the other, but I submit it here for your thought. Consider this a first draft.
Abishag
I.
She lay. And her child arms were bound
by servants around that wilting man,
so on she lay, the sweet long hours,
the little one worried by his many years.
And sometimes she turned into his beard
her face, if an owl screeched;
and all, that was the night, came and circled
with fear and desire around them.
The stars match her trembling,
a scent searches amidst the room,
a curtain stirs and gives a sign,
a sign she follows with her eyes…
She kept near him, the waning old man
and, untaken by the night of nights,
she lay on his accruing chill,
a virgin and as lightly as a soul.
II.
The king sat and recalled the empty day
of finished deeds, untasted lusts
and his favorite dog that he had raised…
but at evening Abishag arched
herself above him. His wild life lay
blank as an abandoned shore
under the starscape of her silent breasts.
And sometimes, as an knowing lover,
from underneath his brow he spies
her emotionless, unkissed mouth;
and saw: her green rod
did not reach into his ground.
He shivered. And he listened like a hound
and searched himself for his trail of blood.
-Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Remy Wilkins
10.
Tim Tebow doesn’t wear shoulderpads, those are his shoulders.
9.
We all know Tim Tebow performed circumcisions while on the mission field this summer, what we didn’t hear is that he performed them by throwing spirals twenty yards away.
8.
Tim Tebow does not put his pants on one leg at a time.
7.
Tim Tebow’s DNA is in bold type
6.
Tim Tebow’s skinflakes are a source of nutrition called Vitamin T, it is banned by all major sports.
5.
Tim Tebow doesn’t get sacked, a sack gets Tim Tebowed.
4.
When Tim Tebow was born he crossed the “goal line” dragging two nurses and a doctor with one of his mom’s kidneys tucked under his arm.
3.
Tebow doesn’t pray when he kneels, the earth does.
2.
When Urban Meyer asked Tim Tebow if he wanted to play for the Florida Gators, Tim Tebow misunderstood, he agreed because he wanted to play with Florida Gators.
and the number one reason why Tim Tebow is a Man and You Are Not…
1.
When coaches form T’s with their hands they’re actually calling for Tim Tebow, which stops the game in honor of his football prowess.
