If this is a man
Jul. 21st, 2013 07:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glaukopisFor the sake of something to do, and in order to prove to myself that I hadn't already forgotten Italian grammar, I put together a translation of Primo Levi's "Shema." The original text is up front; my blatting is below the cut.
Voi che siete sicuri
Nelle vostre tiepide case,
Voi che trovate tornando a sera
Il cibo caldo e i visi amici:
Considerate se questo è un uomo
Che lavora nel fango
Che non conosce pace
Che lotta per mezzo pane
Che muore per un sì o per un no.
Considerate se questa è una donna,
Senza capelli e senza nome
Senza più forza di ricordare
Vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo
Come una rana d'inverno.
Meditate che questo è stato:
Vi comando queste parole.
Scolpitele nel vostro cuore
Stando in casa andando per via,
Coricandovi alzandovi:
Ripetetele ai vostri figli.
O vi si sfaccia la casa,
La malattia vi impedisca,
I vostri nati torcano il viso da voi.
You who are safe
in your warm houses,
you who return at evening to find
the hot meal and friendly faces--
consider if this is a man
who labors in the mud
who knows no peace
who fights over a piece of bread
who dies at a single "yes" or "no."
Consider if this is a woman,
without hair and without a name
with no more strength to remember;
her eyes empty and her womb cold
like a frog in winter.
Consider that this has been;
I commend these words to you.
Engrave them on your heart
when standing in your house, going down the street,
going to sleep and waking up;
repeat them to your children.
Or may your house be wrecked,
may sickness hinder you,
may your own children turn their faces away from you.
It's a fairly simple text, but I've only taken one Italian reading course, so it's possible that my method is not entirely sound. I would have liked to use a word other than "consider" for meditate, but nothing else worked as well ("contemplate"? "ponder"?). I would also be happy if someone would tell me about the use of comando--both of the other translations I consulted went with "commend," but I couldn't quite get this.
Voi che siete sicuri
Nelle vostre tiepide case,
Voi che trovate tornando a sera
Il cibo caldo e i visi amici:
Considerate se questo è un uomo
Che lavora nel fango
Che non conosce pace
Che lotta per mezzo pane
Che muore per un sì o per un no.
Considerate se questa è una donna,
Senza capelli e senza nome
Senza più forza di ricordare
Vuoti gli occhi e freddo il grembo
Come una rana d'inverno.
Meditate che questo è stato:
Vi comando queste parole.
Scolpitele nel vostro cuore
Stando in casa andando per via,
Coricandovi alzandovi:
Ripetetele ai vostri figli.
O vi si sfaccia la casa,
La malattia vi impedisca,
I vostri nati torcano il viso da voi.
You who are safe
in your warm houses,
you who return at evening to find
the hot meal and friendly faces--
consider if this is a man
who labors in the mud
who knows no peace
who fights over a piece of bread
who dies at a single "yes" or "no."
Consider if this is a woman,
without hair and without a name
with no more strength to remember;
her eyes empty and her womb cold
like a frog in winter.
Consider that this has been;
I commend these words to you.
Engrave them on your heart
when standing in your house, going down the street,
going to sleep and waking up;
repeat them to your children.
Or may your house be wrecked,
may sickness hinder you,
may your own children turn their faces away from you.
It's a fairly simple text, but I've only taken one Italian reading course, so it's possible that my method is not entirely sound. I would have liked to use a word other than "consider" for meditate, but nothing else worked as well ("contemplate"? "ponder"?). I would also be happy if someone would tell me about the use of comando--both of the other translations I consulted went with "commend," but I couldn't quite get this.