Poetry and Wislawa Szymborska

When I read a translation, I often wonder how much is the author and how much the translator. Here are 2 translations of the same poem, which is about an idea so translates better than most I should think. I like lines from both poems. Szymborska won the Nobel Literature prize in 1996 for her poetry, and is a very interesting poet.

In Praise of Feeling Bad About Yourself
The buzzard never says it is to blame.
The panther wouldn't know what scruples mean.
When the piranha strikes, it feels no shame.
If snakes had hands, they'd claim their hands were clean.

A jackal doesn't understand remorse.
Lions and lice don't waver in their course.
Why should they, when they know they're right?

Though hearts of killer whales may weigh a ton,
In every other way they're light.

On this third planet of the sun,
among the signs of bestiality
A clear conscience is Number One.


IN PRAISE OF SELF- DEPRECATION

The Buzzard has nothing to fault himself with.
Scruples are alien to the black panther.
Piranhas do not doubt the rightness of their actions.
The rattlesnake approves of himself without reservations.

The self-critical jackal does not exist.
The locust, alligator, trichina, horsefly
Live as they live and are glad of it.

The killer-whale’s heart weighs one hundred kilos
but in other respects it is light.

There is nothing more animal-like
than a clear conscience
on the third planet of the Sun.

There are more translated poems here, try the two about the soul (one poem, different translators, one version much better than the other I think) and my favourite, A Word on Statistics.