Soft Translation Poem by Emmanuel George Cefai
Soft Translation
The
Night
It
Grows
Into
A
Mask
Undistinguishable
Amidst
The
Other
Masks
That
Move
And
Glide
A
Sea
Of
Masks
With
Ebb
And
Flow!
Soft translation that is
Transformation:
The waters grow; the fountain
Its head rears now higher
Now lower rears;
You will don the mask
That half white half black
Divides; though it be day
And the mask wills the night.
The transformations facial are
Thus hid.
Waters emerge; waters rise and dry,
Then rise again as the ancient
Phoenix did.
Soft translation that is
Transformation:
The waters grow; the fountain
Its head rears now higher
Now lower rears
The skinny opening lines set up the theme of transformation from familiar to unfamiliar. In the body of the poem this ebb and flow no longer renders things unknowable. We can recognize the change from night to day, from waters low to waters flooding, masks on or off, the phoenix new or old. I take it these are soft translations because we can grasp them whole, see the process of different states, both the before and after.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
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9/5/2025 1:54:16 AM # 1.0.0
The skinny opening lines set up the theme of transformation from familiar to unfamiliar. In the body of the poem this ebb and flow no longer renders things unknowable. We can recognize the change from night to day, from waters low to waters flooding, masks on or off, the phoenix new or old. I take it these are soft translations because we can grasp them whole, see the process of different states, both the before and after.