Poetry by Ülar Ploom

LAMADA KARJAMAAL HIIREHERNES

Lamada karjamaal hiirehernes,
tulitav päike pää kohal kõrges;
põse all poolniisked rootsud pehmed,
purused pebred ja heinaehmed;
hingata ihusse kamara rambust,
mõelda end ümbritset lehmist ja lambust;

käänata selili, vaadelda ringe,
mida joonistab viu, nagu viibutaks linge,
et langeda
visatult
all vilja:
ühks kohkunud karje,
ent juba on hilja…

tõusta istuli,
kuulata tõrksaid pruuskeid, vankri
lõginat, köhatust, ninanuuskeid,
sekka nõõsid ja ptruusid, muud häältelisa,
kui sealt lähevad Juku ja vanaisa;

lasta hobusel kaduda pajude poole,
jääda istuma, vaatama
sinnapoole.


TO LIE IN A PASTURE IN VETCH

To lie in a pasture in vetch,
with the hot sun high overhead;
chin-down in damp soft stalks,
mown hay and chaff;
to inhale the indolence of the turf,
to imagine oneself amid cows and sheep;

to turn over, onto one’s back, to observe the circles
a buzzard traces, as if swung in a sling,
to fall
as if thrown,
down into grain:
a frightened shriek,
but already it’s late…

to sit up,
to listen to stubborn snorts, the clatter
of a cart, a cough, the snuffings of a nose,
amid chucks and whoas, some additional voices
when Juku and his grandfather pass by;

to watch the horse disappear toward the willows,
to stay seated there, looking
that way.


Translated by Jüri Talvet and H. L. Hix

© ELM no 21, autumn 2005