Translated from Sinhala to English by Vivimarie VanderPoorten
Translator’s note
Sinhala is a diglossic language while English is not, so one of the challenges for me as a translator was to convey the meaning of fairly high-level Sinhala poetic diction in relatively simple English. I prioritised the transfer of imagery, because for me, when writing original poetry, that has been the key in my work. I also tried to write the translated poems in my own voice, while remaining faithful to the gist of what the original poems were saying. I essentially heard a woman’s voice in Upekala’s poetry. While syntax and diction helped me understand the original, I paid more attention to sound and metaphor and the original poems’ sense of irony because the strength of the kind of poetry I like lies there. While the translations do not rhyme, there was some need to interpret the sound effects of the original. To a large extent, empathy for the speaker/persona of the poems helped me to ‘get into’ the work. I also told myself that although it has been said that it is impossible to translate poetry, I need to attempt to translate poetry from one of my mother tongues to the other. It was not two different cultures here but one culture, one person with two tongues.
Tunnel
Scarred by battle you
fled from your fallen city
and arrived randomly in a land full of
lightness and mirth
where poems were composed and floated
on the breeze
You opened the doors and entered
this city begging for your life to be saved
and yet offering hope of life
Asking no questions about your journey
I let you sleep a deep sleep
You who came beaten, lashed unconscious
from a burned down city
Sadly in trying to soothe your burns
it is I who got burned
I did not dig deep to look for the skulls of your past
nor did I try to unravel
the tangle of your memories
Instead, I nursed your bruises and sucked out
the poison of your pain
Making you comfortable I sang you to sleep
but it is from where you rested that you began
to dig a new tunnel
What does it matter whether you brought
something with you or not
You gave my life hope but it was all a lie
the day I heard the echo of emptiness
from where you lay
That was the day I let you go
I open the tunnel door and set you free
I remind myself that there are journeys
from which there is no return
You gave me nothing to remember you by
That is why I too,
give you nothing to take with you
(Non)happening
In the dark blind night
when the world is asleep
does the sky weep
when the moon falls into the heart’s lake
The fragrant Bakini flowers
that sway gently in the wind
lean towards the lake’s face
kissing a lotus every now and then:
Will they ever leave their tree
to bloom in the water
Bees fly fast to the flower’s pollen
to carefully dip their tongue
to gently suck the sweet nectar
Would they be as quick to
build a hive
The raft that moves from one bank to another
cutting through the water;
On its many journeys will it even once
listen with its heart
to the voice of the river?
Illustration by Erica Eng
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