JAMES SUTHERLAND-SMITH
POET, TRANSLATOR, CRITIC
Welcome to my website.
These are my latest collections published in October 2022. You can find more samples of my work under the buttons Original Work, Translation and Criticism. My weblog is a work in progress as I ran into copyright issues which proved rather expensive.




















from The Bead of Blood

2 La caravane (rêve,pendant la sieste)

I dream that you’re dancing
before the caravan beds down for the night.
I only see your hands drooping from lifted wrists,
not the tremor of your hips and waist
in the midst of the plaintive music’s undulations
before you gather up your veils
and tiptoe out of the light back into modesty
leaving smoke and conversations.

2

Snívam o tom, že tancuješ,
skôr než sa karavána uloží na noc.
Vidím len vlnenie rúk, zdvihnuté zápästia,
nie tvoje rozochvené boky a pás
uprostred hudby, čo vibruje, narieka
predtým, než zdvihneš svoje závoje
a kráčaš po špičkách zo svetla do skromnosti,
kde dym a hlasy už vnímaš len zďaleka.

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