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Translation
Cernunnos
At the edge of the world,
The sun reaches out to the stars
Peacefully settling at first light to our village:
Morning is upon us.
A notion whispers of the coming days,
Blazing all around the forest, 1
Were some gorgeous stags that we tracked down
Not too far from the cottages
We notice their presence
Magnificent beasts they were!2
Like all the ones we've hunted up to this day.
By the call of the hunt, we sought for glory and riches3
We were armed even before the sun had risen
Riding through the early fog
We left as hunters of the village
In that moment, we were infinite4
We set out to rule5the forest
Between the rustling8of leaves
We hurried, passing from tree to tree
Silently, our gaze fixed on their9tracks
Strange writings of a foreign language etched on leaves and sand
We followed it -- still unable to understand it
The forest was one single shadow
In which both cause and effect10were held in a way
Together, we saw the trail
There at the end was the glorious prize we had dreamed of
It11kept its pace vigorously
Leaving its hoof-like marks further and further before us
This was the time to act and do something12
This hunt should liken to no other
Like those we had ventured through up to this day
As I see it, there is no other such beast
Who trods thru these woods
The heart of the forest softly whispers to us its vibrant tracks
Which led us to unravel the mystery behind it
A puzzle more magnificent than itself
Some of us fled from this mystery
Others gave up out of exhaustion
Every hour saw the dwindling
Of our13numbers
Leaves turn into brilliant hues14
As they fluttered toward the ground15
It's almost as if they16were snickering at us
The day shortly draws to a close17--
Slowly darkened by the Shadow of Hunger18
There were now two of us remaining
And one of them was me
Out there in the clearing,
In the land of Light and Shadows19
Amid strange tracks20
We finally stood face to face with them
Such magnificent beasts21
With hooves so elusive
Its sight crossed with ours
Its splendid antlers never fail to impress
Catching the last light of day,22
We froze in silent awe
Here we were to vanquish them
How would we have succeeded?
We stand here face to face23with the Divine
The air saturates with glistening wonder
The glory of the hunt24forgotten
There falls the bow of the last companion
And he runs from both stag and forest -- back home to the village
Now I alone still remain
Protecting myself
As I gaze straight toward the silvery eye of the beasts25
How awkward it was what I beheld
How strange it was to realize
A hunter I have become
And now the hunted
In the end26I stood alone
For it was my very own tracks I followed
Throughout the entire day27
It should've been called a mystery
And not about letting them go
How would another be able to stand here in my place28?!
I stand here face to face in complete mockery
With just a spear in hand
The stag vanished
I remain alone
Here I am31at the end of the day
Not as a hunter seeking prey
But just me
I am my only prize
A jewel which no one can see
Or know.
I return back home to the village as one of many
Whom the Gods supposedly had not favored
I was, however, on a great hunt
It was not a spear I had to hurl with,
But rather the greatest gift ever bestowed to me from the Gods!32
- 1. I re-arranged a few lines here to make it more clear in English
- 2. it's singular in the original.
- 3. lit. victory and trophies
- 4. lit. many
- 5. alt. capture
- 6. lit. seek, hunt
- 7. lit. good hunting
- 8. lit. whispering
- 9. the stags
- 10. lit. question and answer
- 11. alt. prey
- 12. lit. to be and to become
- 13. lit. fellow comrades
- 14. lit. whispered brighter
- 15. lit. with each that leaves the forest
- 16. lit. the trees (of the forest); as if the leaves falling sounded like laughter
- 17. lit. approaches the evening
- 18. lit. long since obscured by the Shadow of Hunger/Starvation
- 19. lit. Shadows of the Evening Sun
- 20. lit. mixed in the strange tracks
- 21. lit. those magnificent stags
- 22. lit. days
- 23. lit. eye to eye
- 24. lit. hunt and glory
- 25. lit. stags
- 26. lit. end of the hunt
- 27. lit. from morning til the evening
- 28. lit. stead
- 29. lit. temples (physiological sense)
- 30. alt. horns
- 31. lit. I stand here
- 32. referring to the antlers/horns
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Submitted by 
SilentRebel83 on 2013-02-16
SilentRebel83 on 2013-02-16Added in reply to request by 
TrampGuy
TrampGuy Last edited by SilentRebel83 on 2014-05-09
SilentRebel83 on 2014-05-09✕
Faun: Top 3
| 1. | Federkleid |
| 2. | Tanz mit mir |
| 3. | Walpurgisnacht |
Comments
SilentRebel83
Sat, 16/02/2013 - 06:12
You're welcome (-= It's a very nice song!
maluca
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 10:25
"Schläfen" does not mean "slumber" but "temples"
I would not change the hunting prey from one magnificant beast to many, for it chages the sense of the poem a little bit. In the end the narrator stands eye in eye with the stag and notices that it has been himself he had been following all along...
SilentRebel83
Fri, 09/05/2014 - 15:35
"Schläfen" does not mean "slumber" but "temples"
I would not change the hunting prey from one magnificant beast to many, for it chages the sense of the poem a little bit. In the end the narrator stands eye in eye with the stag and notices that it has been himself he had been following all along...
omg, thank you for correcting that. I'll go ahead and make the change. As for the bit about visual perception, it was only in part to my own poetic styling -- which may seem unorthodox to some.
And thank you for your vote. much appreciated. :)
l'opera.rock
Sat, 16/08/2014 - 16:59
It's really qualified, well done & thank you.
Russia is waging a disgraceful war on Ukraine. Stand With Ukraine!
About translator
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