HILARY ELFICK

Inlet in a bay of islands

 

Beneath still cumulus,
uncompromising blue,
here is an inlet so isolated
that only your steady swimming
ripples the sand.
A heron waits by the shoreline.
Boats lie to the tide.

He was here yesterday. He will
come again tomorrow, collecting
clothes and tools, his paintings,
separated chattels, trundling them
in the old barrow up the steep shell path
that once he dug and laid.
Pale squares appear, one by one,
on the tongue-grooved walls he
hammered home these nineteen years
and more. But today he does not come,
and there is space for swimming.

To and fro your thin shoulders
break the brown water.
A bellbird sings her five clear notes
behind the treeferns. A pied shag
dips, plops up and dips again.

Erect, you feel your weight
picking your way across the muddy bars
to enter bush you planted and watched grow.
Quail tiptoe between the trees
whose persimmons, plundered by blackbirds,
sag on lichened bough. New cuts
through seeping stalks show the absence
of amaryllis which he took, for her.
Kowhai, whose blossom-time is over,
wait, silent, till the tui come again.

The first stir of evening breasts the bay
remembering your swimming
back and forth, back and forth,
seeking reason in the turning of the tide.

Roxana-Monica Mîndrican

Hilary Elfick
 

Golful dintre insule

Sub norii neclintiti,
albastrul infinit,
se afla-un golf izolat
unde numai tu inotand neintrerupt
unduiesti nisipul.
Un batlan sta pe tarm .
Barcile asteapta fluxul.

El a fost aici ieri. Va veni
si maine, sa adune haine,
unelte, tablouri, sclavi, si sa-i indese
in acea veche roaba pe poteca ingusta de scoici
pe care a sapat-o candva.
Patrate palide se ivesc, unul cate unul,
pe zidurile ce limba le-a brazdat,*
iar el le-a cioplit mai bine de nouspreze ani.
Dar astazi nu vine si e loc de inot.

Inainte si inapoi, umerii tai gingasi
despica apa tulbure.
O pasare isi ciripeste cele cinci note cristaline
in spatele ferigilor. Un cormoran pestrit
se scufunda, clipoceste si se scufunda iar.

Ridicat, iti resimti greutatea
sprijinindu-te de balustradele noroioase
intri in tufisurile pe care le-ai plantat si ingrijit.
O prepelita se furiseaza printre copacii
si curmalii pradati de pasari negre,
se tarasete printre crengile pline de licheni.
Rani proaspete in lujerele insangerate,
indica lipsa crinilor* pe care el le-a luat pentru ea.
Kowhai ajuns deja la maturitate
asteapta tacut, sosirea pasarii tui.

Lasarea serii ameninta golful
amintind de inotul tau
inainte si inapoi, inainite si inapoi,
cautand sens in sosirea fluxului.

 *“tongue-grooved walls” in the original text- the composed adjective “tongue-grooved” cannot be translated as scuh in the target text- I had to change the topic and the syntax of this line in order to obtain a translation which would seem natural to the target text reader. I chose “a brazda” (to plough- the figurative meaning of the verb) for “grooved” and “tongue” became the predicate of the line.

*amaryllis= common name for some members of the Amaryllidaceae, a family of mostly perennial plants with narrow, flat leaves and with lilylike flowers borne on separate, leafless stalks. They are widely distributed throughout the world, especially in flatlands of the tropics and subtropics. Many ornamental plants of this family are mistakenly called lilies; they can be distinguished from members of the lily family (Liliaceae) by the anatomical placement of the ovary and are considered more advanced in evolution than the lilies. Sometimes the amaryllis family is included in the Liliaceae.in Romanian they are usually called “crini” (lily) or “amaryllis”