A good poem is like finding a hole
      in the palace
          wall--
      never know what you
          might
           see.

(translated by Daniel Ladinsky)

The poem above is written by Tukaram (c. 1608-1649), a Marathi uplifting

poet. I have never read the original (I am not a Maharashrian), and I do not know how good the translation is, I must confess. Nevertheless, I liked it and thought I’d share it with you.

I chose to send this poem because it has an interesting fundamental

definition of poetry. Secondly I guess I want to motivate you guys into putting effort into Indian and other language poetry translations. It certainly will increase verity on the abstract beauty of thoughts. (Yes, translations can sometime be not well done, I understand)

— Arunasri Nishtala

Martin adds

Arunasri raises a rather interesting point - should a translation of a poem be judged more on its accuracy or on its poetic merits? If it turned out that today’s poem was indeed not a faithful translation of Tukaram’s original (and if any Marathi speaker knows the original, do write in!) would it affect its value as a poem in its own right? And more fundamentally, is poetry even ‘translatable’, or is the translator inevitably creating a new work of art, in collaboration with but not identifiable with the original?

— Martin

Links

Biography of Tukaram: http://www.tukaram.com/pages/intro1.asp
And a somewhat blurby one of Ladinsky: http://www.tgrady.com/ladinsky.htm