Long Ils Poems

Translation of Eric Mottram’s Twentythird Legal by T. Wignesan

Le vingt-troisième légal

pendant la guerre le peuple devient obéissent de nouveau
plein du respect (et) de la confiance les enfants naïfs dans la foi
la gouvernance nécessaire  ...

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Translation of Eric Mottram’s TIME SIGHT UNSEEN, Part One by T. Wignesan

"Instead of an item in a school of rhetoric, the poem could have variety of articulations, continuity and discontinuity, sentence and parataxis, and an...

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 Translation of Eric Mottram’s TIME SIGHT UNSEEN - Part Four by T. Wignesan


"Instead of an item in a school of rhetoric, the poem could have variety of articulations, continuity and discontinuity, sentence and parataxis,...

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Translation of Eric Mottram’s TWENTYEIGHTH LEGAL (Part One) by T. Wignesan
 
N.B. If any one is interested in reading the continuation of the extracts of letters that Eric Mottram wrote from America during 1965-66 to...

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Mama – Translation of Kevin Gilbert’s « Mum » by T. Wignesan

Kevin Gilbert (July 10, 1933 – April 1, 1993) - father of Irish-English ancestry, mother an aboriginal from New South Wales - was orphaned...

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 La Fête foraine de Scarborough (La Version complète)
 
      For the medieval English poet and Simon and Garfunkel 
-	In admiration -

Allez-vous à Scarborough fête foraine ?
(Sur la côte d'une...

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Les Protecteurs – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “The Protectors” by T. Wignesan

(Note: Oodgeroo never claimed to write poetry à la manière des poètes occidentaux; she said - without mincing words – her lines were sheer...

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Le Courlis poussa des cris -Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's The Curlew Cried by T Wignesan


 (Note d’Oodgeroo : Le courlis fut le frère d’aborigènes. Il venait trois nuits de suite pour pousser des cris près...

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Le vieil identique problème – Translation of Kevin Gilbert’s « Same Old Problem » by T. Wignesan

(For Kevin Gilbert – cf. the introduction to Inside Black Australia (1988) – as quite obviously for Oodgeroo, too...

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GOOD TIME ( translated in  two other languages)
Good time lies in onerous tracts
Where the minds reject
It shelters in a solitary world
Fidgets like a hovering danger
Reluctance, the only neighbouring sister
Dominates the city


Good time lies in...

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C'est bientôt l’aube – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “The Dawn is at Hand” by T. Wignesan

(Note : In this poem - the title poem of her second collection - Oodgeroo has come full circle, la...

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Klacatoo – Translation of Kevin Gilbert ‘s « Klacatoo » by T. Wignesan

On nous avait coincé sur la rive de Lachlan
un endroit qui s’appelle Klacatoo
là où nous rassemblions au coucher du soleil
quand nous entendions le...

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J'apprends le français en ce moment
parce que j'ai l'intention de voyager à Paris.
Je ne parle pas couramment le français.
J'ai découvert Le Lac il y a quelques années.

Par un mariage
Du côté de ma mère,
nous sommes liés...

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Où allons nous? Translation of Oodgeroo  Noonuccal’s “Where are we going” by T. Wignesan

Ils sont venus dans une petite ville
Une bande à moitié nue soumise silencieuse
Tout ce qui restait de leur tribu.
Ils sont venus...

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Translation of Eric Mottram’s A Faithful Private - 3 Dolores Huerta by T. Wignesan

3. Dolores Huerta

aucun coq n’y annonce la reveille:
les étudiants et les dirigeants des travailleurs 
font partie du piquet de grève contre les...

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Le Problème avec des Blancs – Translation of Jim Everett’s « The White Man Problem » by T. Wignesan

(Jim Everett, Mawbana Pleregannana, b. 1942 on Flinders Island, Tasmania, has had a chequered career and like...

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L’octroi des droits à Jacky – Translation of Mudroroo Narogin’s « They Give Jacky Rights » by T. Wignesan


(Note : The first aboriginal writer to have achieved – according to Kevin Gilbert’s Inside Black Australia...

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The blue hour takes root ...

There is the dark wing of the steamer,
Which takes the open sea, and carries away its regrets,
Tiny passengers, waving handkerchiefs
And the seagulls passing and passing again.
Heavy rusty chains, in heaps...

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Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (Toller)

To “toll” is to dance like a fox
Luring mallards or teals to the rocks
Where a hunter’s awaiting
What the dog has been baiting
Scaring duckies right out of their jocks

The Old English...

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Ce sont de grosse perles tombées à l'envi du paradis,
Grain à grain, plus luisantes que tout superbe satin.
Leur fraîcheur et délicatesse proviennent du séraphin,
Qui dit: jamais ses qualités ne deviendront ni taries ni décaties.
Tant qu'il...

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(La ballade de) La femme Woor – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “The Woor Woman” by T. Wignesan

Le chasseur Bhoori demandit de la colline,
Puisque le ciel à l’ouest était de rouge,
Et le monde entier devenait triste...

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These people, they’re not worth much,
They think they are more liquid than water,
They shine before those who envy them,
They wear beautiful expensive watches,
These people think they’re better than God,
Better Than hedgehogs, seagulls, trees,
But they don’t...

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Translation of Eric Mottram’s A Faithful Private 5 Homage to Humphrey Jennings by T. Wignesan

                    ...

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The trenches are dug,
We gotta go, guys,
Defend our country,
On the other side of the Rhine,
They don’t speak French,
On the other side of the Rhine,
They don’t speak German,
Sprechen Sie Deutsch ?

We gotta go, guys,
To die for...

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Only birds tell the truth,
They hear our little fears
And lay them in their nests,
They know when we cry
And tell all their friends, in heaven,

Only birds tell the truth,
Better than the great poets, 
Better than the...

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