Thursday Translation, #8

Stefan George, from Der Stern des Bundes (1914)

Is this the lad of ancient lore
Who came from thence with flatterer's eyes
With rosy soft virgin's members
With sumptuous tissues enticing?
His trunk was slim and taut. He grasps ·
He tempts no more · has no jewels.
Shines with grit and lust for battle
His look . . his kiss is short and burning.
His seed now shot from the holy shaft
He pushes into pain and danger.

*

Ist dies der knabe längster sage
Der seither kam mit schmeichler-augen
Mit rosig weichen mädchengliedern
Mit üppigen binden im gelock?
Sein leib ward schlank und straff. Er greift ·
Er lockt nicht mehr · ist ohne schmuck.
Von mut und lust des kampfes leuchtet
Sein blick . . sein kuss ist kurz und brennend.
Hat er besämt aus heiligem schoosse
Drängt er in mühe und gefahr.

Comments

[Johannes Haag]

Nice translation, but there seems to be an active/passive-slip in the next to last line. (The short and burning kiss actually being a cipher for (presumably aggressive) sexual intercourse.)
Cheers, Johannes

[Justin E. H. Smith]

You're right, I struggled with those last two lines for a long time. I noticed that the verb was active in both cases, but decided to override the surface grammar for what I thought *had* to be the intended meaning. I thought there must be some rare, poetic meaning of besämen in which it functions passively. But I guess George wants to say that his hero *himself* conceived from the holy womb and then pushed into pain and danger. I'll see if I can rework it. (What I love about George's poetry is that there is almost always an Anglo-Saxon lexical equivalent for the words he chooses that enables an English translator to preserve his meter down to the syllable.)

[Johannes Haag]

Well, I am not sure wether the 'lad of ancient lore' (as you have it so nicely) is conceived from the holy womb. I think George is referring to the lad's own 'Schoß' ('Schoß' being mostly, but not necessarily and only, womb, It could be used here to refer to the lad's genitals, the unusual wording reflecting the androgynous appearance of the lad in the first lines of the poem).There thus seems to be a direct connection between the short and burning kiss and the act of 'seeding'.

[Justin E. H. Smith]

How's this? It seems somehow more overtly obscene than the German (though I could have gone for much worse than 'shaft'), and unfortunately too alliterative, but it's the best I can do. I would not have known, otherwise, that 'Schoss' can refer either to female or male anatomy.