Andrew Philip

LAMENTATION
efter Tony Conran’s translation
o the poem by Dic Jones

I ken this chaipter o dool maun bring
the twa o us some mercy soon,
but Glangwili will aye be
a glen o grief for me.

Grief we hae for ither wir new daw
daurk an cloodit ower,
grief loups the day we lost her
grief an wir shame thegither.

Taen awa, wir wanless Esyllt whaur
there nae lap for her, nor kisses.
Whit dirls the hert mair nor Tristan
ettlin for tae comfort Siân?

The hurt in her face an the wae o a
quaistion there nae answer tae,
an maist o aa in her skreich tae us,
a dearness o dependence.

A heiven an a hurt her birth a douce
dool the lossin her
an a mercy wi nae remorse
her end in aa its endlessness.

Like a madonna, shrood white in the stour
o the outmaist wheesht.
On her breist, emissars o simmer,
her cauld cheek a gairden o snaw.

An the-nicht, unner the flouers simmer;
ancient truth is at its darg
an comfort has new buds whaur
her ashes hain the mindin.

She’ll be in the tears o dew in the sun
lang efter we’re awa,
for aye, here in the yird,
her dust maks the flouers bonnie.

The-morn will never unmak hert-hunger.
We growna less feart o negatin daith.
As lang’s we hae mindin, the loss shall bide.
Humanity’s worth is its pouer tae greet.

THE PANTHER
frae the German o Rainer Maria Rilke

His sicht, duin oot wi bars that keep on passin,
nae langer has the strenth tae haud a thing.
It seems thae bars maun nummer in their thousans;
ahint the thousan bars, nae warld for him.

The saft, the sleek an strang faw o his steps
that turn thirsels in totiest o rings
is like a dance o pouer aroun a spot
whaur nou a heavy will is dulled an hings.

Whiles the curtain o his ee, wioot a soun,
will apen up—. A pictir gangs in syne
alang the cannie tension o a limb—
an in the hairt, the pictir tynes.

This latest update on Just One Book comes courtesy of the blog of Salt short story writer Elizabeth Baines:

We’ve been busy campaigning over the last two weeks to save Salt. The business has faced some serious financial difficulties as the recession hit us hard. I’m pleased to say we’ve stabilised the business, but we still need to build our cash reserves to secure our future. We’d like to thank all our customers for supporting us; but more than that, we thought we’d offer everyone a summer treat:—

A THIRD OFF ALL SALT TITLES THROUGHOUT JUNE

We’re now giving you a huge 33% off ALL books till the end of June. Use the coupon code G3SRT453 when in the checkout to benefit. Don't forget if you spend £30 or $30 you get free shipping too.

Please continue to spread the word, and spread news of this offer. Please don't let up. It's been extraordinary, but we're not out of danger yet. Every penny goes into developing Salt's books and services. We want to start a new children's list, and offer more resources to teachers and schools. We want to extend our publishing in new areas including our translations programme, we want to offer you more free magazines online. We want to help develop more support for debuts with the enhancement of our Crashaw and Scott prizes. We're planning audio books, ebooks and new videos for you. We only want to move forward, to develop and expand what we do and deliver great books in new ways to you and yours.

We need your support throughout June. We'll try and organise more readings and promotions with our authors. Virtual book tours. More launches. We'll work with bookstores to bring you short story and poety evenings. Stick with us throughout June and we can do something astonishing. That's the power of Just One Book — we want you to be a part of it. Follow us on Twitter look for #SaltBooks and #JustOneBook. Join our Facebook Group.

And have a giggle at the vid, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdcTqXaOD2s

Oh, and one last special offer — Catherine Eisner’s magnificent crime novel, Sister Morphine for £7.50 plus P&P, simply enter coupon code EISNER in the UK checkout http://bit.ly/8rHDa

Watch out for more special offers throughout June.