Oh wow! I love this! A new one for me! Thank you! One of my regrets in life is not being able to read the words of a poem in its original tongue. Thank you for this translation! Happy world poetry day! Happy spring Veronika! Danke. 🙏❤️
Happy spring to you too, Jamie. It arrived here with a hurricane, so I thought this poem is quite suitable...
I just found a newer recording of Franz Hohler's original performance of the poem, it's quite fun to watch, even if you don't understand the words (and you can read the translation alongside)
I exchanged some correspondence with Franz a couple of years ago. He's not only a brilliant novelist, poet and performer, he's also a really nice guy!
I understood it was a joke, Jamie, but your comment still made me wonder...
1st: My only direct experience with well known writers are the ones I have translated myself, and I'm happy to confirm that all of them were nice (to me)!
I have translator colleagues who have told me of shitty experiences with 'brilliant novelists' so from what I've heard, not all of them are 'nice guys' or gals, as the case may be. Authors don't always grant permission to translate their work, and sometimes explicitly ban a translator...
2nd: I wrote to Franz directly to ask for permission to translate his work, and to know whether there were any copyright issues. He told me the translation rights for his novels are with his publishers, but he retained the rights to his poems.
The publisher of the original was happy for me to translate the work, but unfortunately I didn't find a publisher in the UK, which is CRAZY (imho). This is a poet who has won multiple awards etc.... a 'national treasure' in Switzerland.
(If anyone here knows of a publisher who might be interested...)
Franz was delighted that I wanted to translate his poetry and granted me permission, so I have translated a couple of poems and managed to published them (in relatively obscure places).
I think he also thought it was very nice of me to make the effort... 😉 It was a fun project (no payment involved)
Veronika, something tells me you are a translator of heart! Thanks for sharing your gift with the world. I don’t know a lot of famous authors, but I’m sure they feel a different kind of pressure to perform. I’m glad I fly under that famous radar lol. Just know I will read anything you translate whether it’s from a different language or from your own soul. Thanks for being here. 🙏❤️
Old man of the mountains now, great guy, translation a gift.
Last year we saw no wasps, apparently across Britain, for the first time in memory. People noticed the large fruit wasps not attending picnics, but there were others we missed. For the first time on our plot we had no colonies of the smaller version who excavate their hive in old mole holes and mop up insect larva as well as flower nectar in season. We hope this was a one-off.
(I didn't know it but Baleen whales poop otherwise scarce nutrients for photosynthesis across the broad oceans. Arguably, (the details are not clear), the hunting of whales in the 19thC for clean-burning oil for the lamps of newly industrial countries already began a significant process of alteration of ocean primary production and biodiversity, creating new feed-back loops.)
Jo Sundberg's recent near-thing adventure in NZ and your hurricane out of the Atlantic prompted me to pass on a link that arrived by co-incidence in my morning emails. Australia dreaming indeed, well outside my zone, acute hardship endured. The ancient trees in joy is a brilliant experience. https://towardseudaemonia.substack.com/p/the-flooded-forest-re-post/comments
thanks for reminding me of whale poop...♥️ 🙏 an important source for other life forms... the nutritional value of humus is also closely related to excrement from various sources.
An excellent poem - if only we listened more to poets and artists! Sobering to be reminded that we could have spent the last 50 years (and more) using science and our imaginations to forge quite a different world to the one we inhabit now 😢
Wonderful sharing, Veronika! As Jamie said, I wish I knew and understood more languages—I’d love to read artists in their mother tongue.
You did a great job bringing this poem into English for all of us English speakers, broadening our knowledge and allowing us to experience it in a new way. Thank you!
The fact that you know the artist makes this reading even more special.
This poem made me think of one of my posts about death—one of my favorite topics to research.
The death archetype has fascinated me, and my conclusion about the end of all things is that the goal of life itself is death.
We cannot escape it; we can only face it. In that sense, the end of the world in this poem is such a powerful reminder of why we are so lucky to be here at all—alive, moving along the path, part of the process, right up until the end of time.
Happy Poetry Day! Thank you for sharing (as Jamie said and I agree so much: "something tells me you are a translator of heart! ") —I love reading your posts and the diversity of your interests while enjoying the end of the world in my own way.
Thank you Katerina 💗🙏 yes, translating is also one of my gifts, as I found out in the process of living and seeking... translating between outer and inner languages. When we love doing what we're doing, the heart is always in it 🩵
Just wanted to add something I forgot in my first comment: Whether we realize it or not, every action we take—no matter how small—ripples through the world in ways we can't always foresee.
The consequences of our choices often unfold in ways we never expect, and sometimes, by the time we see them, it’s already too late. We’ve become so disconnected, wrapped up in our mental activities, consumed by desires and overconsumption, that we no longer feel the full weight of our actions.
And on a positive note, the title brought me back to one of my favorite pieces of music by the Greek band Aphrodite's Child – "End of the World," wonderfully sung by the godlike voice of Demis Roussos.
3 such important and intriguing threads of thought you added here:
1st... totally! This realisation is also at the core of my work on Synchronosophy. It applies, of course, in what we 'manifest' or create in unintended ways (good or bad or anything in between)
2nd this follows on from the first. The extent of this relates to our level of inner clarity. The practice rooted in the Noctarine and based on 'synchronosophic principles' enables us to become more connected with ourselves, disentangle the threads of our 'mental activities', and align ourselves with our autochthonous roots, so we become more connected etc....
3rd I just listened to Aphrodite's Child heart-wrenching interpretation of 'End of the World' of a different kind...
Thank you Veronika, l read your translation and then l listened to his performance, to feel his voice being punctuated with the drum. I enjoyed his tone and rhythm despite not understanding his words. The importance of poetry and song in giving an important message to a broader audience who may not otherwise engage in other forms of literature came to mind - so necessary. 🙏😊💚
Yes 🙌🏻😁, l read your translation aloud before l listened to the original - it’s how l give my respect to a poem 💜, they are written to be felt, to be heard 🙏.
Happy World Poetry Day and Spring Blessings to you! Thank you, Veronika, for this excellent translation. ‘The End of the World’ feels like such a poignant choice for a day that honours not only poetry, but also the delicate threads that connect us all on this Earth. Franz Hohler's words and wisdom serve as a powerful reminder of how even the smallest change can send ripples through the world around us. May it be so.
Thank you Deborah ♥️ 🙏 it was in fact your posting for 'World Poetry Day' that inspired me to browse through my own collection of poems (some translations, some my own), and this one stood out, shouting PICK ME!
so glad I did, and you played no small part in it ✨😊
Happy Poetry Day 🥂, and let us all make the ripples we're born to make 🎶 ♪ ♬
"Let us all make the ripples we're born to make 🎶 ♪ ♬" What a beautifully poetic sentiment, Veronika! Ab-soul-utely, let's all embrace the ripples we're meant to make in this world! 🎵✨
Não conhecia, gostei muito do vídeo apesar de não entender nada do que ele diz, mas é um complemento importante para a tradução. Obrigada pela tradução.
I remember it now having read it again. A reminder of the butterfly effect - starting a downward spiral of events. But I wonder what cascading upward 'butterfly effect' spiral of events could be started by adding something new to the environment.
Honouring Swiss poet Franz Hohler, in celebration of World Poetry Day
Oh wow! I love this! A new one for me! Thank you! One of my regrets in life is not being able to read the words of a poem in its original tongue. Thank you for this translation! Happy world poetry day! Happy spring Veronika! Danke. 🙏❤️
Happy spring to you too, Jamie. It arrived here with a hurricane, so I thought this poem is quite suitable...
I just found a newer recording of Franz Hohler's original performance of the poem, it's quite fun to watch, even if you don't understand the words (and you can read the translation alongside)
I exchanged some correspondence with Franz a couple of years ago. He's not only a brilliant novelist, poet and performer, he's also a really nice guy!
Love it! So brilliant novelists, poets and performers are rarely nice guys too? Lol! He sounds wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing 🙏❤️
I understood it was a joke, Jamie, but your comment still made me wonder...
1st: My only direct experience with well known writers are the ones I have translated myself, and I'm happy to confirm that all of them were nice (to me)!
I have translator colleagues who have told me of shitty experiences with 'brilliant novelists' so from what I've heard, not all of them are 'nice guys' or gals, as the case may be. Authors don't always grant permission to translate their work, and sometimes explicitly ban a translator...
2nd: I wrote to Franz directly to ask for permission to translate his work, and to know whether there were any copyright issues. He told me the translation rights for his novels are with his publishers, but he retained the rights to his poems.
The publisher of the original was happy for me to translate the work, but unfortunately I didn't find a publisher in the UK, which is CRAZY (imho). This is a poet who has won multiple awards etc.... a 'national treasure' in Switzerland.
(If anyone here knows of a publisher who might be interested...)
Franz was delighted that I wanted to translate his poetry and granted me permission, so I have translated a couple of poems and managed to published them (in relatively obscure places).
I think he also thought it was very nice of me to make the effort... 😉 It was a fun project (no payment involved)
Veronika, something tells me you are a translator of heart! Thanks for sharing your gift with the world. I don’t know a lot of famous authors, but I’m sure they feel a different kind of pressure to perform. I’m glad I fly under that famous radar lol. Just know I will read anything you translate whether it’s from a different language or from your own soul. Thanks for being here. 🙏❤️
Oh, that's a bold promise to make, Jamie, without having seen the list of my translations... 🤭
Did I say that 🤔💭 😅
My dad always warned me not to turn out to be a drunken poet lol! Glad I didn’t listen to him lol.
Today should be celebrated as World Poet's Day... Saude! 🥂 😉
Lol! I’m just having fun, but I often hear that! Happy spring. Thanks again I loved that poem.
Old man of the mountains now, great guy, translation a gift.
Last year we saw no wasps, apparently across Britain, for the first time in memory. People noticed the large fruit wasps not attending picnics, but there were others we missed. For the first time on our plot we had no colonies of the smaller version who excavate their hive in old mole holes and mop up insect larva as well as flower nectar in season. We hope this was a one-off.
(I didn't know it but Baleen whales poop otherwise scarce nutrients for photosynthesis across the broad oceans. Arguably, (the details are not clear), the hunting of whales in the 19thC for clean-burning oil for the lamps of newly industrial countries already began a significant process of alteration of ocean primary production and biodiversity, creating new feed-back loops.)
Jo Sundberg's recent near-thing adventure in NZ and your hurricane out of the Atlantic prompted me to pass on a link that arrived by co-incidence in my morning emails. Australia dreaming indeed, well outside my zone, acute hardship endured. The ancient trees in joy is a brilliant experience. https://towardseudaemonia.substack.com/p/the-flooded-forest-re-post/comments
thanks for reminding me of whale poop...♥️ 🙏 an important source for other life forms... the nutritional value of humus is also closely related to excrement from various sources.
An excellent poem - if only we listened more to poets and artists! Sobering to be reminded that we could have spent the last 50 years (and more) using science and our imaginations to forge quite a different world to the one we inhabit now 😢
using science and our imaginations (based on short term personal interests) as excuses to dodge the real issues perhaps? 🤫
It’s quite a see-saw, that’s for sure! With both, we always have to be alert to the ideologies powering them, I suppose
What a great reminder to cherish everything, even the beetle. Hell, even the mosquito. And that's a hard thing to do.
🙏 💕 yeah, those pesky mosquitos... "the horrible itch it used to cause,
and it was always full of grot." 😉
Brilliant linguist Bond
honors poet who explains
this world’s ending. Thanks!
💙 🙏 ✨ muchas gracias
Thanks, Gracias, Danke,
Shukran, Toda, Dyakuyu.
Merci! And mercy. 🙏
Wonderful sharing, Veronika! As Jamie said, I wish I knew and understood more languages—I’d love to read artists in their mother tongue.
You did a great job bringing this poem into English for all of us English speakers, broadening our knowledge and allowing us to experience it in a new way. Thank you!
The fact that you know the artist makes this reading even more special.
This poem made me think of one of my posts about death—one of my favorite topics to research.
The death archetype has fascinated me, and my conclusion about the end of all things is that the goal of life itself is death.
We cannot escape it; we can only face it. In that sense, the end of the world in this poem is such a powerful reminder of why we are so lucky to be here at all—alive, moving along the path, part of the process, right up until the end of time.
Happy Poetry Day! Thank you for sharing (as Jamie said and I agree so much: "something tells me you are a translator of heart! ") —I love reading your posts and the diversity of your interests while enjoying the end of the world in my own way.
Thank you Katerina 💗🙏 yes, translating is also one of my gifts, as I found out in the process of living and seeking... translating between outer and inner languages. When we love doing what we're doing, the heart is always in it 🩵
Just wanted to add something I forgot in my first comment: Whether we realize it or not, every action we take—no matter how small—ripples through the world in ways we can't always foresee.
The consequences of our choices often unfold in ways we never expect, and sometimes, by the time we see them, it’s already too late. We’ve become so disconnected, wrapped up in our mental activities, consumed by desires and overconsumption, that we no longer feel the full weight of our actions.
And on a positive note, the title brought me back to one of my favorite pieces of music by the Greek band Aphrodite's Child – "End of the World," wonderfully sung by the godlike voice of Demis Roussos.
3 such important and intriguing threads of thought you added here:
1st... totally! This realisation is also at the core of my work on Synchronosophy. It applies, of course, in what we 'manifest' or create in unintended ways (good or bad or anything in between)
2nd this follows on from the first. The extent of this relates to our level of inner clarity. The practice rooted in the Noctarine and based on 'synchronosophic principles' enables us to become more connected with ourselves, disentangle the threads of our 'mental activities', and align ourselves with our autochthonous roots, so we become more connected etc....
3rd I just listened to Aphrodite's Child heart-wrenching interpretation of 'End of the World' of a different kind...
💔 🙏 ✨
Thank you Veronika, l read your translation and then l listened to his performance, to feel his voice being punctuated with the drum. I enjoyed his tone and rhythm despite not understanding his words. The importance of poetry and song in giving an important message to a broader audience who may not otherwise engage in other forms of literature came to mind - so necessary. 🙏😊💚
Isn't it just? I've tried (and I think largely succeeded) to wrap the English version into that same tone and rhythm. ♥️ 🙏
Yes 🙌🏻😁, l read your translation aloud before l listened to the original - it’s how l give my respect to a poem 💜, they are written to be felt, to be heard 🙏.
I would guess the globalist read this many years ago.
yes, this was written over 50 years ago 💗🙏
Powerful translation Veronika. ❤️
Thank you! ♥️ 🙏
Happy World Poetry Day and Spring Blessings to you! Thank you, Veronika, for this excellent translation. ‘The End of the World’ feels like such a poignant choice for a day that honours not only poetry, but also the delicate threads that connect us all on this Earth. Franz Hohler's words and wisdom serve as a powerful reminder of how even the smallest change can send ripples through the world around us. May it be so.
Thank you Deborah ♥️ 🙏 it was in fact your posting for 'World Poetry Day' that inspired me to browse through my own collection of poems (some translations, some my own), and this one stood out, shouting PICK ME!
so glad I did, and you played no small part in it ✨😊
Happy Poetry Day 🥂, and let us all make the ripples we're born to make 🎶 ♪ ♬
"Let us all make the ripples we're born to make 🎶 ♪ ♬" What a beautifully poetic sentiment, Veronika! Ab-soul-utely, let's all embrace the ripples we're meant to make in this world! 🎵✨
Não conhecia, gostei muito do vídeo apesar de não entender nada do que ele diz, mas é um complemento importante para a tradução. Obrigada pela tradução.
sim, o Franz Hohler também é músico e o ritmo da sua leitura do poema acrescenta muito a mensagem, muito grata pelo comentário 💗🙏
I remember it now having read it again. A reminder of the butterfly effect - starting a downward spiral of events. But I wonder what cascading upward 'butterfly effect' spiral of events could be started by adding something new to the environment.