Wolfgang LuchtErnst Meister (German poet, 1911-1979)
At the beach
laughter, they have
caught the fish that speaks.
But he says
what everybody says.
[original:]
Am Meer
ein Lachen, sie haben
den Fisch gefangen, der spricht.
Doch er sagt,
was jedermann meint.
Liam Langan@W_Lucht nice. Would "but he says what everyone thinks" be a closer translation?
@My_plants_dance
It's possible. However in my reading (because of the "but") it's not that the miraculous fish can convey everyone's meaning - my interpretation is that it just has the same gossip as anybody and had no amazing things to say. In the sense of "ich meinte zu ihm ..." ("I said to him ..."). But your version could be an option, too. Challenges of translation! I know some great poems with widely differing translations ... Thanks for writing!
It's possible. However in my reading (because of the "but") it's not that the miraculous fish can convey everyone's meaning - my interpretation is that it just has the same gossip as anybody and had no amazing things to say. In the sense of "ich meinte zu ihm ..." ("I said to him ..."). But your version could be an option, too. Challenges of translation! I know some great poems with widely differing translations ... Thanks for writing!
@W_Lucht you're correct, I think I see it now. It's that "doch" with the eye roll 🙄.
"Doch" is very versatile. Might be my favourite German word.