There are two different Romani texts of this poem in print, and I give both for the sake of completeness. The first given here is in the poet's own dialect, with its heavy adstratum of Slavic loans, and uses the orthography one would expect. The other is in the metaphonological supradialectal orthography promoted by the IRU (the so-called "Warsaw Alphabet" created seemingly with the paradoxical aim of promoting Romani literacy by making the language harder for most speakers to spell, the delusion of the Mentally Coutiarded.) Unsurprisingly for a version in so ostentatiously standardized an orthography, every single Slavic loan is in this version replaced by a pre-European equivalent, along with other differences in morphology. I gave priority to the more dialectal version, which I not only thought was a better poem all round but also seemed to me much more in keeping with Sejdic's attitude toward orality in poetic language, as well as the reality of Romani literature and literacy as being a bottom-up rather than top-down phenomenon.
Their Boots Crushed The Gypsy Violin
By Rasim Sejdic
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Their boots crushed the Gypsy violin
all that remains is Gypsies' ash
the fire the smoke
rise heavenward.
They carted away the Roma
children they ripped from mothers
wives from husbands
they carted away the Roma.
Jasenovac* � packed with Roma
tied to cement pillars they can't budge
their hands and feet in heavy shackles
down to their knees in mud and sludge.
There in Jasenovac* remain
their bones as witness
to indict the works of inhumanity
Dawn breaks anew, the sun
warming the Roma as it has always done.
*Jasenovac was an extermination camp. Run by the Croatian Usta�e with the material support of the Third Reich, and later dubbed "the Auschwitz of the Balkans" it was one of the largest and most sadistically administrated of all death camps. Inmates consisted of ethnic Serbs, Roma, Jews, Bosnian and Croat Muslims and anti-fascist dissidents. Approximately 45�52,000 Serbs, 15-20,000 Roma, 12-25,000 Jews, and 5-12,000 Muslims were murdered in Jasenovac. Roma taken to the camp did not undergo selection, but were kept in open air in subsection III-C, before being brought to the killing-grounds of Gradina and Ustice for liquidation interspersed with forced labor. There the Usta�e did not use anything so mercifully quick as bullets, or gas chambers. They enjoyed killing too much for that, and savored the sport, excitement and variety of using knives, mallets, pick-axes, saws and other implements to dismember, bludgeon, exsanguinate, and behead their victims. There were even regular contests to see who could kill the most prisoners in a given span of time or with a particular weapon. In 1942, for example, Lt. Petar Brzica won a gold watch for successfully killing 1360 prisoners in just a few hours using only a small curve-bladed knife. It may seem I am dwelling overmuch on the minutia of the horror and perversion of humanity that was Jasenovac. But there is a reason. I want any and every reader who has never before heard the name "Jasenovac" to have it seared into their brain when they come away from this page.
The Original:
Gazisarde Romengi Violina
Rasim Sejdic
Gazisarde romengi violina
acile ognji�te romane
e jag o dimo
ando oblako vazdinjalo.
Id�arde e Romen
cavoren restavisarde pe datar
e romnjen pe romendar
id�arde e Romen.
Jasenovco perdo Roma
pangle pala betonse stubujra
pale lantsujra pe prne pe va
ando balto dzi ke cang.
Acile ando Jasenovco
lenge kokala
te pricin, o nemanu�engim djelima
zora vedro osvanisarda
i Romen o kam pre tatarda.
The Other Original:
Ustavde e Rromenqi Violina
Rasim Sejdic
Ustavde e Rromenqi violina
achile e jaga rromane
i jag o thuv
and-o devel vazdinon.
Igarde e Rromen
chavorren ulavde pe da?ar
e rromnen pe rromnen?ar
igarde e Rromen.
Jasenovco pherdo Rroma
pandle pala betonosqe st�bura
verklinen�ar pe prne pe va'
and-e cika ?i k-e cang
Achile and- Jasenovco
lenqe kokala
te mothon bimanusikanimata
javin v�dro dis�jli
ta e Rromen o kham tatarda
Their Boots Crushed The Gypsy Violin
By Rasim Sejdic
Translated by A.Z. Foreman
Their boots crushed the Gypsy violin
all that remains is Gypsies' ash
the fire the smoke
rise heavenward.
They carted away the Roma
children they ripped from mothers
wives from husbands
they carted away the Roma.
Jasenovac* � packed with Roma
tied to cement pillars they can't budge
their hands and feet in heavy shackles
down to their knees in mud and sludge.
There in Jasenovac* remain
their bones as witness
to indict the works of inhumanity
Dawn breaks anew, the sun
warming the Roma as it has always done.
*Jasenovac was an extermination camp. Run by the Croatian Usta�e with the material support of the Third Reich, and later dubbed "the Auschwitz of the Balkans" it was one of the largest and most sadistically administrated of all death camps. Inmates consisted of ethnic Serbs, Roma, Jews, Bosnian and Croat Muslims and anti-fascist dissidents. Approximately 45�52,000 Serbs, 15-20,000 Roma, 12-25,000 Jews, and 5-12,000 Muslims were murdered in Jasenovac. Roma taken to the camp did not undergo selection, but were kept in open air in subsection III-C, before being brought to the killing-grounds of Gradina and Ustice for liquidation interspersed with forced labor. There the Usta�e did not use anything so mercifully quick as bullets, or gas chambers. They enjoyed killing too much for that, and savored the sport, excitement and variety of using knives, mallets, pick-axes, saws and other implements to dismember, bludgeon, exsanguinate, and behead their victims. There were even regular contests to see who could kill the most prisoners in a given span of time or with a particular weapon. In 1942, for example, Lt. Petar Brzica won a gold watch for successfully killing 1360 prisoners in just a few hours using only a small curve-bladed knife. It may seem I am dwelling overmuch on the minutia of the horror and perversion of humanity that was Jasenovac. But there is a reason. I want any and every reader who has never before heard the name "Jasenovac" to have it seared into their brain when they come away from this page.
The Original:
Gazisarde Romengi Violina
Rasim Sejdic
Gazisarde romengi violina
acile ognji�te romane
e jag o dimo
ando oblako vazdinjalo.
Id�arde e Romen
cavoren restavisarde pe datar
e romnjen pe romendar
id�arde e Romen.
Jasenovco perdo Roma
pangle pala betonse stubujra
pale lantsujra pe prne pe va
ando balto dzi ke cang.
Acile ando Jasenovco
lenge kokala
te pricin, o nemanu�engim djelima
zora vedro osvanisarda
i Romen o kam pre tatarda.
The Other Original:
Ustavde e Rromenqi Violina
Rasim Sejdic
Ustavde e Rromenqi violina
achile e jaga rromane
i jag o thuv
and-o devel vazdinon.
Igarde e Rromen
chavorren ulavde pe da?ar
e rromnen pe rromnen?ar
igarde e Rromen.
Jasenovco pherdo Rroma
pandle pala betonosqe st�bura
verklinen�ar pe prne pe va'
and-e cika ?i k-e cang
Achile and- Jasenovco
lenqe kokala
te mothon bimanusikanimata
javin v�dro dis�jli
ta e Rromen o kham tatarda
Comments
Post a Comment