donderdag 13 september 2012

The Little Duck

Ook uit de film gehaald: een gedicht van ene Donald C. Babcock.
Ik reproduceer. En zoek op.
Ontdek dat de originele - volledige - versie in mijn oren minder kernachtig klinkt dan wat ik in de film hoor.
Dus geef ik beide mee.
Eerst mijn favoriet, de korte versie. Ik hou van kort en krachtig.
Daarna hoe het ooit in zijn volledigheid werd gepubliceerd. Omdat een mens volledig moet zijn in z'n bronvermelding. En eer geven aan wie eer toekomt.

The Little Duck

Now we are ready to look at something pretty special.
It is a duck 

riding on the waves a hundred feet beyond the surf.
It can rest while the Atlantic heaves

because it rests in the Atlantic..

Probably it doesn’t know how large the ocean is.
And neither do you.

But what does he do, I ask you? 

He sits down in it.
He rests in the immediate as though it were infinity.
That is religion, 

and the little duck has it.


Correct
Dit is geen Duck, laat staan een kleine.
En hij zit niet in de zee.
En de zee is een meer.
Maar er zit religie in dit beeld :)



The Little Duck
by Donald C. Babcock

Now we are ready to look at something pretty special.
It is a duck riding the ocean a hundred feet beyond the surf.
No, it isn’t a gull.

A gull always has a raucous touch about him.
This is some sort of duck, and he cuddles in the swells.
He isn’t cold, and he is thinking things over.

There is a great heaving in the Atlantic,
And he is a part of it.
He looks a little like a mandarin,

Or the Lord Buddha meditating under the Bo tree
But he has hardly enough above the eyes to be a philosopher.
He has poise, however, which is what philosophers must have.

He can rest while the Atlantic heaves, because he rests in the Atlantic.

Probably he doesn’t know how large the ocean is.
And neither do you.
But he realizes it.

And what does he do, I ask you. He sits down in it.
He reposes in the immediate as if it were infinity – which it is.
That is religion, and the duck has it.

He has made himself a part of the boundless,
by easing himself into it just where it touches him.
I like the little duck.

He doesn’t know much.
But he has religion.

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