Sunday, July 28, 2013
The Translator's Apology
Clive Wilmer, "The Translator's Apology," in New and Collected Poems (Manchester: Carcanet, 2012), p. 157:
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for Patrick McGuinnessThe opening line echoes the refrain from Ernest Dowson's poem "Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae":
I have been faithful to the text, after my own fashion.
There have been other adventures, other assignations,
Over and over, with words mouthed and whispered.
But I am faithful in spirit.
If I have gone astray,
If I have deviated into paraphrase,
If I have gone half mad with imitation,
It has always been that some other dusky beauty
Reflected the original, a transitory embodiment.
Forgive me! Truth is my real goal.
Who that laid hands on that perfect form
Could do other than stay with that in perfect constancy?
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.Hat tip: Ian Jackson.
