Winternag – Winter Night by Eugene Marais

Enjoy Winternag, Winter Night by Eugene Marais here in both Afrikaans and English.
Eugene Marais was a South African lawyer, naturalist, poet and writer. He wrote this poem in 1905.

• Winternag / Winter Night
• Die Dans van die Reën / The Dance of the Rain

by Eugene Marais

Winternag, Eugene Marais

‘O koud is die windjie
en skraal.
En blink in die dof-lig
en kaal,
so wyd as die Heer se genade,
lê die velde in sterlig en skade
En hoog in die rande,
versprei in die brande,
is die grassaad aan roere
soos winkende hande.

O treurig die wysie
op die ooswind se maat,
soos die lied van ‘n meisie
in haar liefde verlaat.
In elk’ grashalm se vou
blink ‘n druppel van dou,
en vinnig verbleek dit
tot ryp in die kou!’

Winter Night, Eugene Marais

‘Cold is the slight wind and sere.
And gleaming in dim light and bare,
as vast as the mercy of God,
lie the plains in starlight and shade.
And high on the ridges,
among the burnt patches,
the seed grass is stirring
like beckoning fingers.

O tune grief-laden
on the east wind’s pulse
like the song of a maiden
whose lover proves false.
In each grass blade’s fold
a dew drop gleams bold,
but quickly it bleaches
to frost in the cold!’

(English translation by Guy Butler)

Originally published in Afrikaans Poems with English Translations edited by A. P. Grove and C. J. Harvey, Cape Town, Oxford University Press, 1962

Die Dans van die by Eugene Marais

Die Dans van die Reën

O die dans van ons Suster!
Eers oor die bergtop loer sy skelm,
en haar oge is skaam;
en sy lag saggies.
En van ver af wink sy met die een hand;
haar armbande blink en haar krale skitter;
saggies roep sy.
Sy vertel die winde van die dans
en sy nooi hulle uit, want die werf is wyd en die bruilof groot.
Die grootwild jaag uit die vlakte,

hulle dam op die bulttop,
wyd rek hulle die neusgate
en hulle sluk die wind;
en hulle buk, om haar fyn spore op die sand te sien.
Die kleinvolk diep onder die grond hoor die sleep van haar voete,
en hulle kruip nader en sing saggies:
“Ons Suster! Ons Suster! Jy het gekom! Jy het gekom!”
En haar krale skud,
en haar koperringe blink in die wegraak van die son.
Op haar voorkop is die vuurpluim van die berggier;

sy trap af van die hoogte;
sy sprei die vaalkaros met altwee arms uit;
die asem van die wind raak weg.
O, die dans van ons Suster!

The Dance of the Rain

Oh, the dance of our Sister!
First she peeps shyly over the mountain top,
and her eyes are shy
and she laughs softly.
And from afar she beckons with one hand;
her bracelets flash and her beads glitter;
softly she calls.
She tells the winds about the dance
and invites them to dance, for there is space enough and the wedding-feast is grand.

The big game career across the plains,
they huddle on the hilltop,
they stretch their nostrils wide
and they gulp the wind;
and they lower their heads to see in the sand her fine footprints.

The little people deep in the ground hear the swish of her feet,
and they creep, come closer and sing softly:
“Our Sister! Our Sister! You have come! You have come!”

And her beads bounce,
and her copper circlets shine in the setting of the sun.
On her forehead flames the fire-crest of the mountain eagle;
she comes down from the heights;
she spreads out the grey cloak with arms outstretched;
the wind itself is rendered breathless,
Oh, the dance of our Sister!

(Translated by C. J. D. Harvey)

Originally published in Afrikaans Poems with English Translations edited by A. P. Grove and C. J. Harvey, Cape Town, Oxford University Press, 1962

Eugène Marais (1871-1936) had twelve brothers and sisters and grew up between Pretoria, Boshof and Paarl, South Africa. Whatever Eugène learnt at home he learnt from his mother, Catharina. Much of his early education was in English, as were his earliest poems. In 1890, at only 19 years of age, Eugène became editor of the weekly Land en Volk, the only Dutch-Afrikaans opposition newspaper in the Transvaal. The following year he became the paper’s co-owner and by 1892 the newspaper’s readership doubled. He was responsible for writing the entire paper and selling advertising space. He is remembered as the father of Afrikaans poetry.

You might also enjoy reading:
32 original Afrikaans idioms sure to make you smile once translated into English

A Poem You Can Read in English and Afrikaans

40 + Incredible Afrikaans Idioms with English Equivalents and Meaning

~~~