Song of the laundresses, I, and - Dead soldiers, and - Ulysses and the Sirens
At a Glance
Section titled “At a Glance”| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2023-01-01 |
| Journal | New England review |
| Authors | Mercè Rodoreda |
Abstract
Section titled “Abstract”Song of the laundresses, I, and: Dead soldiers, and: Ulysses and the Sirens Mercè Rodoreda (bio) translated from the Catalan by Rebecca Simpson Song of the laundresses, I Up the shortcuts of the sky,the tired dawn climbs.She’s come from the springs of the Levantloaded with dripping washing:green that greens the cane standsblue dyed blue that’s folded over. —Red beats, bloody,on the fingernails of darkness. Apple orchards of the rising sun!There, dawn turns back:she’s got the poplars standing tall,smooth and quiet the moss.All things, suddenly,empty their shadows on the ground. —Gray, halfway to silver,falls asleep on bushes of thyme. [End Page 131] Dead soldiers So much blood on our skin has rusted—how much of the fiery stuff did we not burn!—that never, from the depths of this entwined slumber,will any red dawn raise us, for baked now the useless flowwe do not sleep so it can all restart:the tongue trembles in a casket of silence,eyes reencounter the shadow of their birth. Oh, you who stay, we do not envy youif a sliver of morning throughbadly closed shutters cannot be kept out: shadow reclaims what abandons shadow—we’re like the one, on a festive night,who for fun leaps the bonfire with a shout. [End Page 132] Ulysses and the Sirens Tender were their eyes, moist with blue light;their foreheads glowed, burnished like coral.What evening sky, aflame, sucked the fresh southwest windand charmed the boat over a crystal bed? I saw iridescent backs, golden arms, divers,night-dark hair spread across silk;and the bird with its pink-gummed smilewas born and settled on my tired eyes. “Sailors, bind me tight! The rock burns and shines;a watery hand carries us to the island …with a gentle slap of the tail they’ve covered it in sapphires. Night has brought the wind, and all the sails crack,the ship’s keel has opened the emerald expanseand an ox of living stars, nailed to the sky, pulsates.” [End Page 133] Mercè Rodoreda Mercè Rodoreda (1908-1983), the great Catalan novelist and author of short stories, spent a brief but intense period writing poetry. In exile from Spain, and after difficult years in war-torn France, she wrote several sonnet sequences. The experience influenced the development of her narrative style when, moving to Switzerland, she worked painstakingly on a new novel. Translated as Time of the Doves and In Diamond Square, La plaça del Diamant (Club Editor, Barcelona, 1962) was embraced by the public. Institutional recognition and honors followed. Agonia de llum: La poesia secreta de Mercè Rodoreda (Angle Editorial, Barcelona) was published in 2002, and Agonia de llum (Godall Edicions, Barcelona) in 2022. Rebecca Simpson Rebecca Simpson graduated with a degree in English literature from the University of Cam-bridge, where she also kept up Spanish and French studies. She began to pick up Catalan after moving to Barcelona and later studied the language. Having translated for many years, in 2020 she took the CIOL (UK) Translation Diploma to focus on literary translation. She also writes opera libretti and is a voice actor. Her translations of Mercè Rodoreda’s poetry were made with support from the translators program of the Institut Ramon Llull (Generalitat de Catalunya). Copyright © 2023 Middlebury College