1
Read the original poem many times
Horizontally and vertically,
Straight and across, from end to end.
Discover the cities and villages in the poem
Like closely studying a map,
Saunter along the by-lanes of each line
Slowly, seeing each sight.
Meditate over the context, meaning,
Suggestion, weight, colour, odour
Music, memory and dream
of each word, one by one.
Replace from the target language
Word by word, line by line, echo by echo,
Like ordering sculptures on a temple tower.
Read the translation many times over.
Then tear it off, line by line,
Word by word and laugh aloud.
2
Casually run your eyes through
the original poem. When you have
almost forgotten it, write down what remains
like the lees left back at the
bottom of the tea-cup.
Scratch your chin and read it once again
Recall the poem once again
Add to the text what you have now recalled
When memories come back like kitten
Abandoned on the street,
Strike off those parts in the order of their return.
Then tear it off, line by line,
Word by word and laugh aloud.
3
Don’t care to read the original poem at all,
Keep it as far from you as possible.
Bite your nails, and think until
Words take shape on their own.
Order the words into lines.
Bite your nails and revise again
Bite your nails and rewrite the whole
Now read the original poem.
Make sure what you have written is
Absolutely unrelated to it.
Then tear it off, line by line,
Word by word and laugh aloud.
Footnotes: 1. In the last line ‘laugh aloud’ can also be ‘weep aloud’ 2. Those who have no heart to tear off what they have written can send it to some journal with or without the original poet’s name and laugh or weep while waiting for it to be published or thrown into the dustbin.
