[red.:] Dit gedicht is een vrije bewerking van Carmen 51 van de Romeinse dichter Catullus (1e eeuw vChr.) en bevat talrijke echo’s uit de wereldliteratuur (Milton, Dante, Shakespeare, Proust, Yukio Mishima enzovoort).
THROUGH ME SING THE MUSES
I summon the gods
which my spirit impels me now to recite
rouse me
a man of vengeful gods
and a hero unsung
whom I looked upon
green-eyed with envy
dazzling, scorching, reeling
who yet lushly looked upon you
and heard your honeysweet laughter
which set loose my miserable self
and robbed me of all feelings
mea Lesbia
for as soon as I saw you
A LOVELY FRAGRANCE SUDDENLY CAUGHT MY ATTENTION
of roses red and violets blue
dawned upon a rosy-fingered sky
a dazzling burst of beauty made
my senses let fly
my eyes ascended
light spilt in a golden flood
like a thousand rays pouring out of the sun
our eyes met
my tongue seemed to swell
an enormous blaze in me arose
set aflame by the brightest of stars
not even the sun could emit
like an inferno awoken in the deepest course of earth’s soil
forged for a day of reckoning
drifting through my limbs and blood
I felt the surge of beauty awaken in me
with ears ringing ears from the mere sound
a drifting flame amidst an ocean free
beauty against reason
against justice, peace, hope and fate
against rank and riverbank
BEAUTY, A MEMORY OF THINGS PAST ASTRAY
halfway this path of life we were bound upon
how shall I say
awoken in the deepest course of my soul wholly lost and gone
ah how hard to speak of it
piercing, tearing, devouring
its mere memory gives a shape to fear
causing pain
setting ablaze Vesta’s sacred flame
cut our life’s thread
for a moment’s aim
eternal, immortal, perpetual
I want to live in my fame
I shall sweep into eternity
brighter than all the stars
my name shall be never forgotten
wherever the sight of you extends in
the hearts you will conquer
the passers-by you will seduce
and the minds you will poison
my verses shall be read and recited
I shall live in my fame!
GUN
GLORY
SAD ENDING
THE NAKED SUN FADED BEHIND
the broad rosy-fingered horizon
a ray scorching
my eyes veiled in a double darkness
idleness, Catullus, is your source of pride and imprudence
idleness is your dazzling burst of elegance and has moved you to passion
idleness has proved in times past
the ruin of kings and queens
the fall of prosperous, dazzling, great cities at last
of vengeful gods and heroes unsung
of debauched deans
of lovers torn apart old and young
IS PERFECT PURITY POSSIBLE
if I turn my life into a verse
written with a splash of blood?
Life, let us live for wanting to fly off
to the Unknown
or the Known
both a single splash of blood Love,
let us love
although the goal could never have been love
nor, had it been, could I ever have
belonged to the heavens
juni 2023
Eric Cheung
