Best Tali Poems
Tali Karng : le Serpent du Crépuscule – Translation of W. Les Russell’s « Tali Karng : Twilight Snake » by T. Wignesan
(W.Les Russell, b. 1949 in Melbourne, joined the Royal Australian Navy – where he received training in photography – in 1965. He soon found himself at odds with the hierarchy, and so he requested and obtained an honorable discharge in 1970. He worked for the Education Department in Victoria for ten years as a photographer, and thereafter served on many levels on various aboriginal uplift bodies in Victoria and Queensland ; in the latter state, he helped to make the Aboriginal Mining Information Centre, according to Kevin Gilbert in Inside Black Australia, 1988: « …one of the largest indigenous research bodies in the world… », and says of this poem in English that it « shows a control and imagery far beyond the parameters of the majority of Australian poets to that greater universal level beyond country, beyond life. ») T. Wignesan, Paris, December 14, 2016.
Tali Karng : the serpent du crépuscule :
Dans le cratère se trouve le lac.
L’eau brun roux : peu claire profonde ;
Le lac froid : un lit des feuilles et des écorces
Déchiqueté raide le mur du cratère
Tous couverts gris vert imposants
Plantes alpines et Cendres de Montagne
Où des oiseaux délicats de plumage éclatant cabriolent
D’une branche à l’autre en chantant d’une voix douce
Jusqu’à l’arrivée subite du soir doré
Et :
Tali Karng : le serpent du crépuscule :
Est en train de chasser près des eaux du lac.
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2016
Ikwintas mo sa iyong leeg ang tali,
Itanim mo rin ito sa iyong puso,
Panghawakan mo sa lahat ng sandali,
Huwag mong bitawan nang dahil sa tukso,
Ito ang sa iyo ay magkakandili,
Kahit ano pa ang mangyari sa mundo,
Ibuhay mo nga ang salita ng Diyos,
Sundin ito nang buong ingat at lubos.
Sa iyong leeg ang tali ay ikwintas,
Laging magpasakop sa Pamamahala,
Huwag kang lalabag sa utos at batas,
Huwag itong ipagwawalang-bahala,
Upang sa araw ng wakas ay maligtas,
At matiyak ang biyaya't gantimpala,
Ang matulis ay huwag ngang sisikaran,
Sayang ang tiniis kapag kinalagan.
Manatiling tapat sa mga tuntunin,
Huwag kang titigil sa mga pagtupad,
Sa Amang banal ay maging masunurin,
Ang nasa pagsamba'y tiyak na mapalad,
Landas ng masama ay huwag tahakin,
Upang putong ng katwiran ay igawad,
Sa 'yong pag-ibig ay huwag manlalamig,
Ikwintas mo ang tali sa iyong leeg.
I have listened to,your stories
Heard your talk on Human Rights
It’s warmed the cockles of my heart
On many a Bastion night.
The next time I come across,
And I know I surely will
The indiscriminate victim
Of a Taliban kill
I won’t get upset
Or have any sleepless nights
I’ll know the Tali did it in defence
Of his version of Human Rights
And when we leave this country
After years of combat and bravery
And the Afghani woman are
Returned to their Burkha’d slavery
And ISIS cross the channel
Because our security is so bad
And unleashed chaos on the streets
In pursuit of their Jihad
And they demand Sharia law
In my native England
I’ll try to stay calm
And try to understand
And I won’t get upset
And try not to hate
Those religious fanatics with views
Five hundred years out of date
For I have listened to your story
Heard you speak of Human Rights
It’s warmed the cockles of my heart
On many a Bastion night,
Written sone years ago, but the repression goes on with women being denied education and treated like chattels/