HILARY ELFICK

Dream at Bunyah

 

We could not get to Yengo, though
we skirted some hours, noting
the turnoffs. His legs were longer

and I could not keep his pace
through thigh-high blady grass,
across dugout hole of bandicoot,

open track like slipped snake-skin
and down the silky oaks towards
the creek that scuttled in the shade.

That might not have mattered.
He said that he’d go on, but
wounded by a fall, less brave maybe,

locked in the parenthood that cornered me
into a terrible answerability,
I drew back slower, turned my head,

and whether that sore groin I had was there
to block me or to warn me
hard to tell. The abos tell you that

the mountain is not there for you to choose.
It is my way to stop too soon.
He crept back at the ending of the dark,

swollen boots nicking the spikes of old grey gum
in that short dawn frost that can kill.
A bursting moon was rising with the dawn.


He didn’t talk of it, of whether he had
got there, or if what happened then
had left him satisfied or bleak.

We’d catch a look sometimes,
wondering which one of us in defiance or
holy diffidence had got it right.

Roxana-Monica Mîndrican

Hilary Elfick
 

Vis la Bunyah*

Nu am putut ajunge la Yengo*, desi
am ocolit cateva ore, tinand seama
de cotituri. Picioareele sale erau mai lungi

si nu puteam tine pasul cu el
prin iarba taioasa inalta pana la coapse,
de-a lungul vizuinilor de bandicoot*,

o dara deschisa ca o piele lunecoasa de sarpe*
si in jos pe langa stejarii luciosi catre
paraul ce serpuia in umbra.

Asta ar fi putut sa nu conteze.
A spus ca va merge mai departe, dar
Ranita de o cazatura, si poate mai putin curajoasa,

Intemnitata de rolul de parintecare pe mine m-a invaluit
intr-o teribila responsabilitate,
m-am retras incet, am intors capul

si nu as putea spune daca acea rana
pe care o aveam in pantec era o piedica
sau doar un avertisment indigenii* va pot spune ca

muntele nu este acolo pentru ca vrei tu.
E felul meu de a ma opri prea curand.
El s-a furisat la lasarea serii,

cu cizmele umflate zdrobind tepii eucaliptului
in acea dimineata atat de geroasa incat te putea ucide.
O luna gata sa explodeze* se ivi odata cu zorii.

Nu a vorbit despre asta, despre cum ajunsese
acolo, sau daca ceea ce se intamplase
il multumise sau il intristase.

Ne aruncam priviri uneori,
Intrebandu-ne care dintre noi, sfidator sau
cu o sfiala pioasa*, era pe drumul cel bun.

*Bunyah is situated in the area of Australia. As to the administrative division, Bunyah belongs to New South Wales. Some of the major tourist attractions in the surroundings of the town of Bunyah are Sydney Opera House about 210 km, Blue Mountains about 268 km, Lord Howe Island, about 652 km, Gondwana Rainforests of Australia about 483 km, Willandra about 882 km, Royal Exhibition Building and gardens, Carlton, about 910 km, Fraser Island about 778 km, Phillip Island racing circuit about 947 km, Tasmania Wilderness, about 1209 km, The National Park Tjuta about 2200 km, Great Barrier Reef about 1609 km, Australian Fossil Mammal Sites, about 1984 km, Millstream falls about 1752 km, Sydney about 213 km, Canberra about 449 km, Gold Coast City, about 478 km, Brisbane about 528 km.

*Yengo National Park is about 90 kms north-west of Sydney. The park lies between Putty, Wollombi, and Wisemans Ferry. A network of rough 2WD and 4WD roads in the north-east of the park provide limited access. Yengo NP is separated from Wollemi NP by Putty Road.

*A bandicoot is any of about 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia. The word bandicoot is an anglicised form of the Telugu word pandi-kokku, (loosely, pig-rat) which originally referred to the unrelated Indian Bandicoot Rat. The name also stems from the fact that Bandicoots will readily eat cheese, as well as pig-food.

*‘slipped snake –skin’- I chose “lunecos”(slick) for “slipped” because it focuses on the main feature of the ‘snake-skin’. ‘slipped’ implies the idea of a slick object/creature.
 

*“indigenii”- in the original text the author uses the word “abos” (sg. Abo) which is a very offensive word for the Australian Aborigines.

*A “bursting moon” made me think of a big round moon which gives you the feeling that it is about to explode; that’s why I chose to translate the structure by “luna gata sa explodeze”(a moon which is about to explode/ to burst).

*“holy diffidence”- in the source text- in my translation “sfiala pioasa”. I chose “pioasa”(pious) for “holy” because in Romanian the word entails both the idea of sanctity, and that of respect (and somehow of strictness).