#a translator's nightmare

[poem-today]

A poem by Dick Davis

A Translator's Nightmare

I think it must have been in Limbo where, As Dante says, the better poets share Old friendships, rivalries, once famous fights And, now they've left it, set the world to rights. As I was being hustled through in transit To God knows what damned hole, I thought I'd chance it And chat to some of the assembled great ones Who looked as bored as trapped theatre patrons Who've paid good cash and find they hate the show . . . I picked on one; "I rather doubt you know . . . " He started up and peered at me:  "Know you, You snivelling fool?  Know you?  Of course I do! You ruined my best poem.  Look who's here . . ." He turned to his companions with a sneer, "Traducer and destroyer of our art, The biggest stink since Beelzebub's last fart". They jostled round, each shouting out his curses, "You buried me with your insipid verses . . ." "You left out my best metaphor, you moron . . ." "You missed my meaning or they set no store on An accurate rendition where you come from". "He comes from where they send the deaf and dumb from, He got my metre wrong . . ."  "He missed my rhymes", "He missed puns I don't know how many times Then shoved his own in . . . "  But I turned and fled Afraid that in a moment I'd be dead A second time, torn limb from spectral limb.

A mist came down and I was lost:  a dim Shape beckoned; thinking it must be my guide I ran for reassurance to his side. But it was someone I'd not seen before, An old man bent beside the crumbling shore Of Lethe's stream.  He stared a long time, then "Did you translate?"  I screamed,"Oh not again," But as I backed off one quick claw reached out; He clutched my coat, and with a piercing shout (He didn't look as though he had it in him) Cried, "We've a guest!  Who'll be the first to skin him?" Then added, "Just my joke now; stay awhile, The crowd in these parts is quite versatile Though we've one thing in common, all of us; When you were curious, and courteous, Enough to translate poems from our tongue All of us gathered here were not among The chosen ones".  I looked around – a crowd Now hemmed us in and from it soon a loud Discordant murmur rose:  "Please, why not mine?" "You did Z's poems, my stuff's just as fine . . ." "The greatest critics have admired my verse . . ." "You worked on crap that's infinitely worse Than my worst lines".  "Some of my stuff's quite good – You will allow that? – It's not all dead wood? Why then . . ?" and slowly the reproaches turned To begging, bragging, angry tears that burned Their way into my sorry soul.

                                             Once more I ran and saw my guide, tall on the shore – The other shore – of Lethe. "Rescue me!" I called, "Get me to where I have to be For all eternity . . ."  He smiled; "My dear, You've reached your special hell.  It's here.  It's here".

Dick Davis

Listen to Dick Davis read his poem.

Image: Gustave Doré - Dante Alighieri - Inferno - Plate 65 

[feral-ballad]

Mina Assadi, tr. by Niloufar Talebi, from Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World; "Waking Dreams 6"

[Text ID: “After rain / there will be rain / After loneliness / loneliness / After you / a silence / that shall give new meaning to loneliness / After night / there will be night / After nightmares / nightmares / After you / a silence / that shall give new meaning to nightmares.”]

[blackfern]

some of my favourite sims from 2023 (happy new year!)

[trashy-panda09]

Imagine if silver learned how to use his fairy powers and pulled something like yuno did from black clover. He would be so powerful and so badass 🤩

[signanothername]

Listen we need more Killer and Color speaking Arabic plz

[beastlyidiocy]

[beresaad]

HADES II ↳ Hecate — Ἑκατη, "The Far-reaching One"

[nadox]

Guys, I think we're on the roll.

This new novel will drop on 30 August along side with the love comedy Raincode novel on 19 August.

[soaked-ghost]

human designs + monster design for frisk :]

[fredlikesbreakfast]

imagine if thorin had lived

I fear if thorin had lived, bilbo and thorin would not have lasted long as a couple- and not because of compatibility, they have too much chemistry

but locking a hobbit up in a mountain? thorin couldn't bear to do it, but a mountainless dwarf is simply unheard of now that he's reclaimed erebor! they would've been forced to choose, and it's not an easy choice to make: leave all you've ever known/wanted, or force your loved one to make that choice?

i haven't watched the hobbit in a hot minute but finding old things i've written down about these two from years ago is making me think of them again. alas! i've not got the right words to say it all

[shrapnelstars]

[mariyekos]

Reading through Deadly Fortune, I think it's sweet how Dante inspired so much confidence in Nero during their first meeting, even if it was only in the way of "well I fought against a stronger guy, so these other guys are chumps!" Didn't even have to try and he was already helping his nephew out just by fighting him.

(From the Nero vs. Berial fight. Alt text under the cut.)

[id: a screenshot of the English Translation of the Deadly Fortune novel. The text reads as follows:

The demon’s voice rumbled in his chest, and he waved his sword high over his head:

“Silence!” He shouted as his sword descended on me. If I hadn’t met the man in red, I might’ve been a little scared. Could I really win against an enemy so massive? Against a sword that big?

But I’d already faced off against that man. After only a few rounds fighting him, I knew a demon like this one wouldn’t pose a real threat. His sword work wasn’t even half as fast or deadly as that man’s.]

[feral-ballad]

you saw your nightmares and you called that life.

Idea Vilariño, tr. by Jesse Lee Kercheval; "You Didn't Know"

[cerise-on-top]

Hi, I saw that you opened your requests again, I don't know if I misinterpreted, but it seems that you haven't been well, anyway, I hope you are better, I'm glad you are taking some time for yourself. <3

Farah, Valeria, Laswell and Price.

(My requests are always about them, they are my favorite ^^)

An incredibly young and immature reader but with such great potential, sometimes they don't even know how the reader comes back from missions alive, and even if they do know, the reader comes back very injured because they don't hesitate to get hurt, or they take risks to save the life of your teammates or to help with the mission.

I imagine the lectures Laswell could give for such stupidity.

And even if they are wrong, the reader just rolls his eyes at the sermons and makes promises of change, not knowing that he is too impulsive to keep that promise. But even if the reader is very irresponsible in combat, he is very skilled, perhaps because he is young, or very intelligent, in addition the reader is a bomb of emotions, perhaps because he doesn't know how his own brain works, it constantly changes of humor, being seen as chaotic, and sometimes he does things so stupid that he makes them laugh, and maybe that's why they keep him around, or maybe because they like to take care of the reader.

Stay well, drink water and have a great day. And as always, I'm using the translator, sorry if anything gets confusing.

Almost two months late, but I got there eventually! This is the last request in my inbox, now I can do as I please!

Price, Valeria, Farah and Laswell with a Reckless and Immature Male!Reader

Price: Oh, you’re gonna give this man a heart attack at some point. He recognizes how skilled you are, he really does, but he wishes you were a bit less impulsive and reckless. As much as he loves having you around, for your skills and the fact that he feels like a father towards you, he will continuously tell you to be more careful. I can see him making you go through more rigorous training than most other soldiers just so you would finally learn to not be so reckless. Sure, he’ll have your back when it counts, but sometimes he needs to focus on his own survival as. He’ll try to cover you whenever he can, but it’s just not always possible. You may be loyal and reliable, but a dead soldier is no good. I feel as though he might get a little loud with you if you roll your eyes at him. He’s used to the disrespect from his soldiers, but that doesn’t mean he appreciates the sass. I don’t think he’d find most stupid things all that funny, especially not if it puts you at risk. You’re definitely gonna butt heads a lot with him. He won’t give in either, though. Price is a pretty stubborn man himself when he needs to be. However, if you get too emotional, then he’ll try to calm you down. He has lots of experience with all kinds of people, so he’ll get there. Tries to be the reason to your impulsiveness and will stop you from doing things that are unwise.

Valeria: She’s probably thoroughly amused by you. Yes, you’re very reliable, intelligent and very skilled, but that doesn’t mean you’re not an idiot in other ways. I think at first she wouldn’t care all that much about you and would see you as another asset, nothing more and nothing less. Once you prove your loyalty to her, she might grow a bit attached to you, though. However, she’ll also give you lectures. Not as many as the others, but she will. Especially when you’re on the verge of death. Yes, she may know nothing she says will get through, but she can try. Will yell at you, though. She doesn’t mind you being impulsive that much, until it puts you at death’s door. You’re a very competent man, you can pull off most things that you do, which she can appreciate. However, she does not appreciate always having to come to your rescue for almost any mistake and miscalculation you make. Sometimes, when she’s fed up enough, she does consider just letting you die. Unfortunately, she’s gotten too attached to you to let that happen. If you do something stupid, then she’s probably the only one on the list to actually laugh. You’re amusing to her, which is one of the reasons she keeps you around. Does not give up hope that you will come to your senses eventually as you mature, but she does want to keep you dumb to some degree. As long as you keep being her loyal mutt, all is good.

Farah: She’s a very meticulous person when it comes to her cause. While not everything goes well, most things have to in order for the majority of the world to not interfere. Farah does not appreciate you being this reckless at all. Not only are you one of her brothers, which means she cares a great deal about you, you almost always come back severely injured. She won’t say too much at first, but she will reach a breaking point eventually. Will scold you rather harshly, if she has to. Does not appreciate the sass and the empty promises. She does threaten you with leaving you behind if you don’t stop this nonsense and start taking better care of yourself. Yes, you’re always trying to save others, but you really shouldn’t be taking this many risks. Your skills are vital, yes, but she will not sacrifice you like that. She’s lost too many people that way already. It highly depends on what kind of stupid things you do. If you’re actively being a menace towards yourself, she won’t laugh. She’ll scold you. You’re young, you shouldn’t be a role model like that for others. She’s a bit harsh towards you, but that’s only because she cares. When you’re seriously hurt, she’ll be a bit more gentle towards you, but will scold you again afterwards. She keeps you around because she cares greatly about you, but is not above taking you out of the fight if she has to. While she’s glad you wanna help her, you’re not going to lose your life just because you’re reckless and impulsive.

Laswell: She’s probably the most calculating regarding where she puts your skills to use. She gets to choose which missions you get to go on, which means she’ll try her best to minimize the risk of you actually dying. Of course, for some reason, you always come back hurt anyway. Yes, you’re highly skilled, but that doesn’t mean she won’t scold you for not taking better care of yourself. However, her words go in through one ear and out the other. I don’t think she’ll actively yell at you since you always have other people in mind, but she won’t stop nagging at you either. Also threatens to send you to an early retirement if you don’t listen to her. However, Laswell is usually a rather calm person when she needs to be. She’s capable of taking care of you when you’re being rather emotional. Like Price, she’ll be the voice of reason and make sure you don’t do anything reckless or stupid. She doesn’t find your endeavors funny either, but will tolerate them, as long as you’re not hurting yourself. She keeps you around for your skills and because she cares a great deal about you, but she will keep on telling you to be more careful. Does not send you on missions on your own since you always need someone that makes sure you come back alive. If she needs a second opinion, then there’s a chance she might come to you. You might lack the experience as of right now, but you’ll get there eventually. She just needs to make sure you will.

[l0uterstella]

BLUE BOUQUET UPDATED PROFILES ENG TRANSLATION

☁️ hobby: observing the sky ☁️ special skill: chess ☁️ likes: coffee, his lord ☁️ weakness: false rumors, getting up early

👿 hobby: keeping a diary 👿 special skill: getting up early 👿 likes: spicy food, training 👿 weakness: his brother, nightmares

✉️ hobby: writing novels ✉️ special skill: blending in with the crowd ✉️ likes: maple syrup, alone time ✉️ weakness: expressing his true feelings

💫 hobby: singing 💫 special skill: stargazing, astronomical observation 💫 likes: pancakes, tinkering with machines 💫 weakness: strangers

🌟 hobby: drawing pictures 🌟 special skill: composing poems from the stars, astrology 🌟 likes: konpeito, washing clothes 🌟 weakness: machines

🌾 hobby: making bread 🌾 special skill: tidying up 🌾 likes: sandwiches, picnics 🌾 weakness: ghosts, big things

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

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