folly home
issue home
From the Arabic
0
10010 00 1110
01101 10 1110
01100
10100
10101 01 1110
—anon.
Oh!
Yes! no, no I don't think so
well, we never know
no yes yes no no
yes no yes no no
but then again who's to say?
—unkn.
Translator's note:
I've tried to retain the flavor of the original while eschewing a
word-for-word translation, although, perhaps, a translation by the numbers might
capture the light of the logic and the heat of the desert. But the translator
must concern himself not only with the literal, emotional and numerical impact
of the poem but also with his own reputation as a bon vivant, poet in his own
right and David Letterman regular. In making this translation (as well as
others) I was influenced by Shapiro's translation of E = mc2 as "the
frog / expends a lot of energy / needlessly."
The perceptive reader will note that "1110" ending lines 1, 2 and 5
appear to be identities rather than true rhymes and may wonder if my translation
conveyed that intent. Of course, the even more perceptive reader will
realize that the accent in each of these lines falls on the penultimate syllables,
00, 10 and 01, giving us three feminine rhymes of 00 1110, 10 1110 and 01 1110.
Feminine rhymes are tricky in translation (especially from a language that
pretends to be gender-blind) but I think I've succeeded in capturing the
delightful number play at all three (note that 3 is 11 in binary) levels. The
reader, of course, must be the final judge here.
Serious scholars might be interested in Singing Deer Rizzo's remarks
on the same subject in "The Art of Translation." Unfortunately, it was
written in prenuptial Algonquin. No translation is available. Finally, I am
reminded of Horace's dying words, "Future translators are going to get this all
wrong."