Halina Poswiatowska canon in translation.  Dziela I 41. / DZIELA I and II
not in _Wiersze Wybrane_ (Selected Poems), Jan Zych ed. / DRAFT2

		Sirocco
		------------------------------------------------------

		the sirocco threw us on the shore
		my hair having drowned in water
		my legs smelling of chamomile
                        plaited into the grass
		threw a challenge to the skies

		sirocco of the mountains -- halniak
		breathless and hot it blows
		the birch is swaying
		the aspen whispering
		the spruce tree quakes

		and you bent over me
		with your face in the wind and in the leaves
		are biting off
		the stubborn grimace from my lips
		-- go on laugh
		-- don't want to
		-- go on laugh
		you drown my head
		as halny drowns the willow's leaves
		in the Poprad


			Halina Poswiatowska d. 11 October 1967
			translated from the Polish
			by Marek Lugowski marek@enteract.com
			22 February 2000 Chicago [revising 19 February]

Note:

Halny wiatr is the official name of a Polish wind of type foehn,
itself a name originating in the Alps.  Other such winds include the
chinook.  Such warming winds may be called the downslope winds.

Many world's winds and their names are indigenous and are catalogued
untranslated my meteorologists, often gaining wide currency in languages
-- sirocco being one fine example.  After consulting my gurtrix, we
decided to include the original "halniak" and "halny".  They mean the
same thing.  Halina's poem is situated where halny wiatr blows.

Also, Halina's own name is a derivative of "hala" (an alp).  Halny
is a masculine adjective describing a wind ("wiatr") that blows in a
hala.  Halniak is a familiar, folksy way to encapsulate halny wiatr
as one concise noun.

Pronounce halny as HAL-ny, halniak as HAL-nyak and wiatr as vyatr.


		Sirocco
		------------------------------------------------

		sirocco nas cisne/l/o na brzeg
		moje wl/osy utopione w wodzie
		moje nogi pachna/ce rumiankiem
		          upla/tane w trawie
		rzucil/y wyzwanie niebu

		sirocco go/r -- halniak
		duszny gora/cy wieje
		brzoza sie/ chwieje
		osika szepcze
		drz/y s/wierk

		a ty pochylony nade mna/
		z twarza/ w wietrze i w lis/ciach
		zgryzasz
		uparty grymas z warg
		-- s/miej sie/
		-- nie chce/
		-- s/miej sie/
		topisz moja/ gl/owe/
		i topi lis/cie wierzby
		w Popradzie halny wiatr


source:
Halina Poswiatowska, _Dziela, Poezja 1 and 2_ (_The Works, Poetry 1 and 2_),
Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakow: 1997.  Source language: Polish.

Copyright Information Data (CID):
	Copyright by Teresa M. Pore/bska and Zbigniew Myga
	Copyright by Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krako/w 1997

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