Poeżija from Lukanda Propaganda by Kafena

Poeżija

Kultant immur fuq vjaġġ fejn nara l-għeġubijiet
Fuq ferroviji twal isuqu bil-mijiet
Għarajjes lambranzetta jħarsu f’għajnejn xulxin
Qisha l-ħajja nbidlet f’daqqa, qisha l-ħajja bdiet dal-ħin. Bdiet dal-ħin

Kultant immur fuq vjaġġ fejn nara affarijiet sbieħ
Fuq bank hemm missier u iben, u fuq bank hemm ġuvni u xiħ
Minn djarju ta’ żmien il-gwerra ntirtet din l-istorja
Sakemm it-tifel isir missier, u l-missier isir memorja

Erġa’ lura d-dar, erġa’ lura, ibqa’ miegħi
Fejn l-ikreh ħsieb jinbidel, isir dija
Ibqa’ miegħi, poeżija

Kultant immur fuq vjaġġ u niltaqa’ ma’ nies bl-għarfien
Bħal dak li pprova jgħodd kemm itir jiġri d-dubbien
U dak li ra mrammtu titmermer u ssir ramel
kien bnieha fuq it-tafal iżda ħaseb li kien ġebel

Erġa’ lura d-dar, erġa’ lura, ibqa’ miegħi
Fejn l-ikreh ħsieb jinbidel, isir dija
Ibqa’ miegħi, poeżija

Kultant immur fuq vjaġġ ġo dal-pajsaġġi sbieħ Maltin
Qalb il-karba fil-ħarrub u l-awrikarji mqanqlin
Nixrob ftit minn Għajn Riħana biex zagħzugħ nibqa’ ta’ dejjem
U bil-karba ta’ kitarra d-deżert ninsieh
U bil-karba ta’ kitarra dan il-vjaġġ nerġa’ nibdieh






Poetry

Now and again I travel and see wonders
on long fast trains
huddled lovers looking into each other's eyes
as if life suddenly changed, as if life has just begun. Just begun

Now and again I travel and see delightful things
on this bench a father and son, on that bench a lad and an old man
This story was passed on in a wartime diary
until the boy became a father, and the father a memory

Come back home, come back, stay with me
with you the darkest thought turns to sunlight
poetry, stay with me

Now and again I travel and meet knowledgeable people
like the one who tried to time flies,
and the one who saw his unfinished home give way
and crumble into sand, built not on rock, but loose clay

Come back home, come back, stay with me
with you the darkest thought turns to sunlight
poetry, stay with me

Now and again I travel through these beautiful Maltese landscapes
amid the lament of the carobs and the shuddering pines
I drink from Għajn Riħana to remain forever young
and with the weeping guitar I forget the desert
and with the weeping guitar I begin this journey again


Notes:

The “wartime diary” refers to a short novel by Immanuel Mifsud, “In the Name of the Father”, an autobiographical account and treatise on fatherhood. The book was awarded the EU Prize for Literature in 2011.

“tried to time flies” is a reference to a joke at the start of Peter Serracino Inglott's short book Peopled Silence, on the philosophy of language. Somebody says: “Time flies", to which somebody else replies: "I can't. They're too fast".

“the one who saw his unfinished home give way...” refers to famous lines from Pietru Caxaru's Kantilena, the oldest known literary text in the Maltese language, from around 1470.

The final stanza weaves together images from other famous Maltese poems, by Anton Buttiġieġ, Ġorġ Zammit, Dun Karm and Achille Mizzi. Għajn Riħana, a valley near Saint Paul's Bay, literally means 'the spring of myrtle'.

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