Laat my hier alleen

“Laat my hier alleen”

(’n Vryvertaling van Francesca Caccini se aria ‘Lasciatemi Qui Solo’ uit die 17de eeu.)

Laat my hier alleen:

keer terug, voëls, na jul neste

terwyl my siel en my verdriet

helaas op hierdie kus uitadem.

Ek wil niemand by my hê nie,

behalwe ’n koue klip

en my noodlottige smart.

Laat my sterf.

Soetste sirenes,

wat met jammerhartige lied

my pyn versag—

swem elders heen!

Roep die golwe weg

met hulle wrede veragtings en gramskap.

Laat my sterf.

Kalmste winde,

keer terug na jul grotte.

Ek vra slegs my harde klaagliedere

om by my te talm:

ek roep nie vir julle sugte nie.

Alleen verlang ek

dat my sielepyn eindig.

Laat my sterf.

... Sanko Lewis

'Nothing besides remain'

here I sit on a sticky carpet

black with blood

spilled from my heart

after you slit your wrists

 

it was my lungs that drowned

in the brine that poured

from my besotted eyes

when you walked into the sea

 

my tongue that gagged and choked

my heart that raced, then stopped

when you kicked the chair

and swung the rope

 

when you inhaled the fumes

and shut your eyes

against existence

it was my reality that broke

 

when—in infidelity—you fellated

the barrel and let it shoot

its load into your mouth,

it was my sanity that exploded

 

Beloved, I’m sure your venture led to peace,

for here—now that you are gone—

none remains, but the decay

of this colossal Wreck

... Sanko Lewis

A Bridge's Lamentation

One would be tempted to think the purpose of a bridge quite obvious, would one not? To connect the unsurpassable; to link the estranged; to make a way where there seems none between points, events, circumstances. The whole reason for a bridge’s construction is to provide an alternative means; to give an opportunity where none exist or supply a better way if the former is too difficult; to provide a solution. And even if one has no need of any particular bridge, even if one need not journey from one’s current A to whichever B that particular bridge provides a means to, still the bridge ought to stand as a reminder for all life’s bridges, ought to symbolize the hope which every bridge is a symbol for. To make such assumptions, to come to these conclusions, seems obvious—even natural—do they not? Obvious. Natural.

Then why do they jump?


... Sanko Lewis

Selfmoord se nota

'n Vryvertaling van Langston Hughes se "Suicide's Note".


Die kalm,
koel gesig van die rivier
het my vir 'n kus gevra.


... Sanko Lewis