Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas!!!!


Is 'Teaching-French' dead? No, just hibernating until I get a fresh burst of inspiration... Meanwhile, here is a special Christmas Edition of 'Teaching French' (previous post).


Wish you all 
A very Merry Christmas  !!!!


 - Pen-Slinger





Teaching French - Christmas 2009


Sunday, December 13, 2009

Oh Joy

Oh, and I wrote another one, this time in English…

Oh Joy 
It was a dream
yes it was
you haven't really come back
oh joy

but the dream was nice
oh joy

you won't come back
you never will

but the dream was nice
oh joy

you left me broken
and washed up
like driftwood

but the dream was nice
oh joy

and you broke and
chopped up
all that was mine
like driftwood

but the dream was nice
oh joy

yes it was
while it lasted
oh joy
© Poltu-2009

Ton Ombre

Just to show I’m not a just soulless comedian, here’s a little poem I wrote (in French) a few days ago in middle of a black despair…
Ton Ombre
perdu 
dans la forêt 
des ombres
je sillonne
sans espoir
mon avenir
je sillonne
à revoir
ton ombre
mais elle
elle n'est pas là
ton ombre
ou toi
© Poltu – 2009
Here’s a rough translation:-
Your Shadow
lost
in the forest
of shadows
I search
without hope
my future
I search
to see again
your shadow
but it
it isn't there
your shadow
or you

I know it looks fairly pathetic in English, but the original French version works much better. Sillonner is my current favorite French verb. It means something like to crisscross desperately, usually in search of something - but there is no nice neat English equivalent - so I substituted it with plain 'search' - also the phrase structure sounds more natural in French, and it has a nice cadence in that language – completely lost in the English.