{"id":2446,"date":"2024-04-13T09:55:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T09:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/?p=2446"},"modified":"2024-08-27T14:11:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T14:11:17","slug":"showering-with-a-raincoat-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/showering-with-a-raincoat-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Showering with a raincoat on"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cPoetry in translation is like taking a shower with a raincoat on.\u201d Now from which movie did I glean that wonderful line??? \u2013 Ah, yes: <em>Paterson <\/em>by Jim Jarmusch. AHA!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But showering with a raincoat on can also be quite a fascinating experience: we feel the drops in an unusual, new and, strangely enough, in a more intense way. As if that secondary skin was at the same time cushioning and amplifying the sensation. Maybe it is because the drops as they hit the fabric will make a noise whereas our skin would absorb them silently?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is my latest exercise in raincoat-showering: In a letter to my friend Moshe I quoted one of my favorite poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, &#8220;Herbsttag&#8221;.  This is the German original:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Herr: es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr gross.<br>Leg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren,<br>und auf den Fluren lass die Winde los.<br>&nbsp;<br>Befiehl den letzten Fr\u00fcchten voll zu sein;<br>gib ihnen noch zwei s\u00fcdlichere Tage,<br>dr\u00e4nge sie zur Vollendung hin und jage<br>die letzte S\u00fcsse in den schweren Wein.<br>&nbsp;<br>Wer jetzt kein Haus hat, baut sich keines mehr.<br>Wer jetzt allein ist, wird es lange bleiben,<br>wird wachen, lesen, lange Briefe schreiben<br>und wird in den Alleen hin und her<br>unruhig wandern, wenn die Bl\u00e4tter treiben.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moshe has a smattering of German, but I do not think his command of the language is good enough for him to be able to appreciate the subtleties of rhyme and metre in a foreign language.  I tried to find an English translation on the Internet, but none of those that I came across captured Rilke&#8217;s masterful play with rhyme and alliterations (e.g. <em>wachen, lange, wandern <\/em>in the last stanza) even remotely. So eventually I slipped on my poetic raincoat and turned on the shower:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Lord: it is time. This summer was immense.<br>Now on the sundial cast your shadow,<br>across the meadows loose let winds.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Command to fullness fruit and vine,<br>grant them yet two more south\u2019rly days,<br>press them to ripeness and then chase<br>last sweetness in the heavy wine.<br><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>He who without home will himself not build one now.<br>He who alone alone will long remain,<br>will stay awake, will read, long letters pen<br>and in the alleys wander, to and fro <br>restlessly, as the leaves drift hence<br><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cPoetry in translation is like taking a shower with a raincoat on.\u201d Now from which movie did I glean that wonderful line??? \u2013 Ah, yes: Paterson by Jim Jarmusch. AHA! But showering with a raincoat on can also be quite a fascinating experience: we feel the drops in an unusual, new and, strangely enough, in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2461,"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446\/revisions\/2461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jcmeister.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}