Apr 30, 2016 NaPoWriMo

Little Boat Setting Out – Translation Poem
The title above is mine, but the poem is Dante Alighieri’s
©April 30th, 2016
Translated by Vijaya Sundaram

From Dante’s Paradiso, II, 1-9.
O voi che siete in piccioletta barca,  
desiderosi d’ascoltar, seguiti
dietro al mio legno che cantando varca,
[tornate a riveder li vostri liti:]  
Non vi mettete in pelago, ché forse,
perdendo me, rimarreste smarriti.
L’acqua ch’io prendo giá mai non si corse;
Minerva spira è conducemi Apollo,
è nove Muse mi dimostran l’Orse.

My Translation:
O, you in your small vessel
Desirous to listen, follow
Behind my wooden boat which crosses, singing,
(Turn back, if you wish to see your opposing shores again:)
Place not yourself in open seas, where perhaps,
Losing me, you will be eternally lost.
The waters I take no one has traversed;
(The spirit of) Minerva inspires, Apollo conducts (my passage),
And the nine Muses show me the Bears.

(I had always been haunted by this beautiful piece of music from La Double Vie de Veronique since I saw it way back in 1992 –and although I guessed some of the meanings, having studied Italian for seven or eight months,  I had a little help from Google Translate!)

Tags: #LaDoubleVieDeVeronique, #Translated Passage from Dante's Paradiso II 1-9

Apr 30, 2016 Acrostic, Original Poetry, The Daily Post

In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt:  Stairway

Spiral (Stairs)
©April 30th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram

Slowly, step by step by
Perfectly curving step, our
Intuition pulls us upward
Reaching, breathless with desire as we
Ascend, for the apex, where the
Luminosum dwells.

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Tags: #Ascent, #OriginalPoetrybyVijayaSundaram, #Spiral, #Stairway, #TheDailyPost, #TheDailyPrompt