Monday, May 23, 2016

Halima Khudoyberdiyeva writes



Live proudly

I am not able to know: Is this world wisdom or gold?
I wished all the magic revealed, every time, but was surprised,
They see my palace in detail, and a special room I hold,
But no friend I find to see my heart or for care to arise.

A thought has settled in my soul like a bodkin and a shot,
I ask you: never fall, because a fallen man has no support.

Jackdaws move away from you, even gardens step aside,
Thank you for your cultivation, do you, like them, take offense?
The mounts that you lifted up you can calmly leave behind,
Come near, but be not distressed if a stone won’t confess.

Grown tired, if you wish to lean, no garden, almond – spoilt,
I ask you: never fall, because a fallen man has no support!

If you have not only a taking but a good aid-giving friend,
Stand up straight yourself and every pillar in the world will fall.
Even if you have a friend that’s going to the grave – till the end,
Go yourself to death and never on the way depart at all.

Live proudly!
And when mourning act as if you're a lucky man, in short.
I ask you: never fall, because a fallen man has no support!

-- Tr. Aazam Abidov

 
 Jackdaw -- Rona Innes

1 comment:

  1. Bodkin was a Renaissance term for many sharp instruments, including dagger, stiletto, an instrument for making holes in cloth, or a pointed tool used for removing pieces of metal type for correction;it was also a blunt needle with a large eye for drawing tape or ribbon through a loop or hem, as well as an ornamental hairpin shaped like a stiletto. In 14th century Middle English it was spelled “bodekin.”
    The jackdaw is a member of the crow family. The name comes from “jack” (small) and "daw,” the native English name for the bird; in Old English, it was “ceo” [the initial consonant was pronounced “ch”], which became “clough,” which many including Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare used to refer to a jackdaw. “Ka” and ”kae” have been used since the 13th century in Scottish and North English dialects, and “co” or “coo” in the Midlands. Other dialectal or obsolete names include “caddesse”, “cawdaw,” “caddy,” “chauk,” “ college-bird”, “jackerdaw,” “jacko.”” ka-wattie,”” chimney-sweep bird,” “sea-crow,” and “ Jack” When Carl Linnaeus was compiling his18th century work on classification, “Systema Naturae,” he gave it the binomial name Corvus monedula because of its supposed fondness for picking up coins, and he chose the specific name “monedula,” derived from “moneta,” the Latin stem of the word "money." Similarly, in the “Beggar's Opera,” John Gay commented that "A covetous fellow, like a jackdaw, steals what he was never made to enjoy, for the sake of hiding it," and Tobias Smollett (in “The Expedition of Humphry Clinker” )described one of his characters thus: "He is ungracious as a hog, greedy as a vulture, and thievish as a jackdaw." Peter Pallas created the genus Coloeus (from the Greek koloios) for jackdaw in 1766, though most subsequent works have retained Corvus for the two jackdaw species. Flocks of jackdaws have been called clatterings and trains, and 40,000 birds have been recorded at a single winter roost. It is quite voluble, leading many to claim that its name derves from the sound it makes, though lexicograghers disagree; it can be trained to speak a few words or phrases, and it copies the human voice well. Jackdaws sometimes act as a mob and drive off larger birds.

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