HILARY ELFICK

Numbering
 

When we wander across the moor,
tracing the soft brown pebbles where
the flock has shuffled, and we scuffle
down gullies lit by impatient streams;

where we stride up under flight paths of
falcon, buzzard, sparrow hawk, there are
no tens or twenties, nothing in a row
to make numbering easier; no equals signs.

But here in the Dales the wind carries the
sound of counting – yan, tan, tether, pethera,
sethera, hovera, covera, dik and yan a dik,

from a shepherd invisible against the ling.

Roxana-Monica Mîndrican

Hilary Elfick
 

Numaratoare*

Cand hoinarim prin tinutul mlastinos,
luand urma pietricelelor maronii pe unde
turma a trecut, mergem grabiti
de-a lungul albiilor luminate de rauri nerabdatoare;

unde ne plimbam pe urmele lasate in zbor de
soim, de uliu* si coroi*, nu sunt
cate zece sau doua zeci, nimic nu-i aliniat
sa usureze numaratoarea, nu sunt semne egale.

Dar aici la Dales* vantul poarta
sunetul numaratorii- yan, tan, tether, pethera,
sethera, hovera, covera, dik and yan a dik*,

rostite de un pastor nevazut in spatele buruienilor.

*“numbering” in the original text- I chose to translate it by using the noun”numaratoare” (count) in order to emphasis the idea of the final stanza – where we have the verb “counting”( which I translated again by “numaratoare” to create an effect of symmetry) and the count itself ” yan, tan, tether, pethera, sethera, hovera, covera, dik and yan a dik”.
 

*One of several medium-sized, wide-ranging raptors with a robust body and broad wings. A vulture, particularly the American Black Vulture and Turkey Vulture, or as a general term for vultures. In parts of the United States where they are considered pest, particularly in rural areas, a derogatory term for certain birds of prey, such as the Chickenhawk (a common colloquial name referring to both the Red-tailed Hawk and the Cooper's Hawk), or the Duck hawk (known elsewhere as the Peregrine). In Romanian it is called “uliu”, or “uliul soparlelor”(the lizards’ hawk).

*Sparrowhawk (sometimes Sparrow Hawk) may refer to several species of small hawk in the genus Accipiter. In Romanian it is called “coroi”, “uliul pasarilor”(birds’ hawk).

*region in UK, Derbshire- in East Midlands, England

*The traditional counting vocabulary of the Yorkshire
Dales. I had to keep the original in my translation because this is specifically Yorkshire and because otherwise the effect wouldn’t have been the same.