Poems and songs in Ultima are always special to translate and something I like to do as much as I have respect for it as it is quite challenging to transport the meaning and the rhyme metrics at the same time while not exceeding the given space (in terms of number of letters possible)
Accordingly I tried to create a German version of Minax’s poem (to Mondain) and had to learn, that I needed to veer away from the original words to make it work. That said, I think I managed to keep the intention of the poem, so I’d like to think it has turned out not entirely bad 😉
|
Through darkness and despair The land was bare Looking for Thee, Mondain Alas, but in vain My soul and mine heart Pierced by Cupid’s dart Will never heal Without Mondain’s will Love is a desolate land Unless Thou, Mondain Takest me by the hand To thy youth fountain ~Minax |
Verzweifelt und verwirrt bin ich durch das Land geirrt um dich, Mondain, zu finden. Sinnlos, sich weiter zu winden; Zeit, es endlich zuzugeben: Ohne Dich mag ich nicht leben. Mein Herz gehört alleine Dir, Mache, was Du willst mit mir. Liebe ist nur eine leere Phrase, Ein tumbes Wort, nur eine Phase, wenn nicht Du, mein liebster Mondain, mich liebst: als mein Herr & Souverän. ~Minax |
Retranslated to English, it reads:
Desperate and lost
I stravaiged through the land
to find you, Mondain.
Senseless to carry on hedging
Time to finally admit:
I do not want to live without you.
My heart belongs to you alone,
Do, as you please, with me
Love is but a shallow phrase,
a naive word and just a phase,
if you, my beloved Mondain,
do not love me: as my master and sovereign.
~Minax