Barbara / Jacques Prévert

Rappelle-toi Barbara
Il pleuvait sans cesse sur Brest ce jour-l…
Et tu marchais souriante
panouie ravie ruisselante
Sous la pluie
Rappelle-toi Barbara
İl pleuvait sans cesse sur Brest
Et je t´ai croisée rue de Siam
Tu souriais
Et moi je souriais de mˆme
Rappelle-toi Barbara
Toi que je ne connaissais pas
Toi qui ne me connaissais pas
Rappelle-toi
Rappelle-toi quand mˆme ce jour-l…
N´oublie pas
Un homme sous un porche s´abritait
Et il a crié ton nom
Barbara
Et tu as couru vers lui sous la pluie
Ruisselante ravie éspanouie
Et tu t´es jetée ses bras
Rappelle-toi cela Barbara
Et ne m´en veux pas si je te tutoie
Je dis tu … tous ceux que j´aime
Mˆme si je ne les ai vus qu´une seule fois
Je dis tu … tous ceux qui s´aiment
Mˆme si je ne les connais pas
Rappelle-toi Barbara
N´oublie pas
Cette pluie sage et heureuse
Sur ton visage hereux
Sur cette ville hereuse
Cette pluie sur la mer
Sur l´arsenal
Sur le bateau d´Ouessant
Oh Barbara
Quelle connerie la guerre
Qu´es-tu devenue maintenant
Sous cette pluie de fer
De feu d´acier de sang
Et celui qui te serrait dans ses bras
Amoureusement
Est-il mort disparu ou bien encore vivant
Oh Barbara
Il pleut sans cesse sur Brest
Comme il pleuvait avant
Mais ce n´est plus pareil et tout est abîmé
C´est une pluie de deuil terrible et désolée
Ce n´est mˆme plus l´orage
De fer d´acier de sang
Tout simplement des nuages
Qui crèvent comme des chiens
Des chiens qui disparaissent
Au fil de l´eau sur Brest
Et vont pourrir au loin
Au loin très loin de Brest
Dont il ne reste rien.

Jacques Prévert (1900 - 1977)

barbara

hatırla barbara,
o gün hiç durmamacasına yağıyordu yağmur Brest´e
ve sen
o yağmurun altında
gülümseyerek yürüyordun
ışıl ışıl, mutlu, sırılsıklam

hiç durmamacasına yağıyordu yağmur Brest´e
ve ben senlen
Siyam sokağında karşılaştım
gülümsüyordun
ben de gülümsüyordum

hatırla barbara,
benim tanımadığım sen
beni tanımayan sen
hatırla,
gene de o günü hatırla
unutma

bir sundurmanın altına bir adam sığınmıştı
sana adınla seslendi
barbara
ve sen
o yağmurun altında ona doğru koştun
sırılsıklam, mutlu, ışıl ışıl
ve kollarına atıldın
bunu da hatırla
ve sen diye hitabettiğim için sakın bana kızma
ben tüm sevdiklerime sen derim
onları yalnızca bir kez görmüş olsam bile
ben tüm sevenlere sen derim
onları hiç tanımasam bile

hatırla barbara,
unutma
mutlu yüzündeki, o mutlu şehrin üstündeki
o sakin ve mutlu yağmuru
denizin, askeri tersanenin, Ouessant gemisinin üzerindeki
o yağmuru

ooo barbara
savaş
ne büyük aptallık
sen şimdi ne oldun
bu;
demirden,
ateşten,
çelikten,
kandan
yağmurun altında

ya seni kollarında tutkuyla saran adam
öldü mü, kayıp mı, yaşıyor mu

ooo barbara
hiç durmamacasına yağıyor yağmur Brest´e
taa o zamanki gibi
fakat hiçbirşey aynı değil, hepsi darma duman şimdi
bu, korkunç ve mahzun bir keder yağmuru

bu;
demirden,
çelikten,
kandan oluşmuş
aynı fırtına değil artık
şimdi sadece
Brest´in üstündeki yağmur boyunca,
ölen köpekler gibi çatlayan bulutlar var

ve onlar
uzakta çürüyecekler,
artık hiçbirşeyi kalmayan Brest´in uzağında,

çok uzağında...

Çeviren: Reha Yunluel

I´m quite depressed - even though its been aeons since I studied French at school I still found the French much easier to understand than the Turkish translation.   - I think we should move to France.

Me too!

Me not  ! ... si conditionnel ... 

Teşekkür ederim...



For "the few", for educational purposes...

BARBARA

Translation source

(In this poem, Prevert magnifies the 1940-1944 tragedy in Brest, French city, totaly ruined in heavily bombing during the war. After the war, the poet remembers a woman he cought a glimpse of under the rain in Rue de Siam before the war. The only thing he knows about her is her name and he wonders, under the rain in the ruins of Brest, what might have happened to her.)

Interesting to see another Turkish translation and for the explanation behind the poem but whoever translated from French to English should know that you can´t say ´it rained without cease´ in English - it sounds really strange and out of place with the rest of the translation.

Well, "it rained without cease" sounds quite alright to me. A google search will confirm this.

Sorry, I don´t speak French, and English is not my native language too Maybe this translation will fit better?

Remember Barbara

It rained all day on Brest that day

And you walked smiling

Flushed enraptured streaming-wet

In the rain

Remember Barbara

It rained all day on Brest that day

And I ran into you in Siam Street

You were smiling

And I smiled too

Remember Barbara

You whom I didn´t know

You who didn´t know me

Remember

Remember that day still

Don´t forget

A man was taking cover on a porch

And he cried your name

Barbara

And you ran to him in the rain

Streaming-wet enraptured flushed

And you threw yourself in his arms

Remember that Barbara

And don´t be mad if I speak familiarly

I speak familiarly to everyone I love

Even if I´ve seen them only once

I speak familiarly to all who are in love

Even if I don´t know them

Remember Barbara

Don´t forget

That good and happy rain

On your happy face

On that happy town

That rain upon the sea

Upon the arsenal

Upon the Ushant boat

Oh Barbara

What shitstupidity the war

Now what´s become of you

Under this iron rain

Of fire and steel and blood

And he who held you in his arms

Amorously

Is he dead and gone or still so much alive

Oh Barbara

It´s rained all day on Brest today

As it was raining before

But it isn´t the same anymore

And everything is wrecked

It´s a rain of mourning terrible and desolate

Nor is it still a storm

Of iron and steel and blood

But simply clouds

That die like dogs

Dogs that disappear

In the downpour drowning Brest

And float away to rot

A long way off

A long long way from Brest

Of which there´s nothing left.

Translation:  Lawrence Ferlinghetti

It rained incessantly . . .

Thank you for your time and trouble Slavica

I agree. It´s more archaic/old fashioned language perhaps, but as the speaker in the poem is looking back in time, it would seem an appropriate phrase.  My alternative, "It rained incessantly" may not appeal either and there are others . . . "the rain was unceasing", "it rained unceasingly"  "it rained without end"  , "... without stopping". . . It all boils down to personal preference and which words people find pleasing to the ear.  Anything goes in poetry, that´s the beauty of it . . . it´s good to play with language.

Ha ha

Come on PT,  Lir is right there and I think you know it..

You seem to want to have a "black or white" argument here, sorry but there isn´t one.  I still agree that "without cease" is acceptable.  That doesn´t mean I would use it myself and I gave several alternatives.  "Cease" is archaic and I agree that "without cease" does sound strange.

Poetry as you know, is an art form and I would venture that anyone attempting to translate a poem takes on the role of a poet.  They can use their own choice of word/phrase according to their own preference as long as the original meaning of the poem remains.  We all witnessed such differences in translation not so long ago and both were equally good.

As I said, it´s poetry and anything goes. You cannot put everything in life into neat and tidy little boxes.

I wasn´t having a go at Slavica - she didn´t do the translation!  And ´it rained incessantly´ or possibly even ´ceaselessly´ was what I had in mind but the second translation Slavica found sounds good to me!

To Vineyards:   I wouldn´t like to count the number of times those on TC who are actually trying to learn Turkish have been told ´you can´t really say that, we don´t say that´ - countering it with ´but it says I can in my book´!  Trust me, if you said to someone English - ´it rained without cease today´ - you would get some very strange looks.

Sometimes when I look at the site dictionary I see ´English´ words which as far as I know haven´t been used in the last millennium - let alone the last century

LIR. I wouldn´t use "without cease" in a casual conversation, that´s a given but you know it is really hard to find rhyming couples in English. It is actually difficult to write with rhythm and meter in your language. That´s why translated poems are full of forced rhymes.

If you don´t edit, you don´t press ´send´ and you can just hit the back button and nothing will change!  No need to explain

I´m sure it´s hard to find rhyming couplets in any language but neither the French original nor the English translation used this medium so ´without cease´ didn´t really make the poem ´flow´ any better than using ´ceaselessly´, ´endlessly´ or even ´without a break´.  

The reason I commented on the use of ´without cease´ is that, to me - a native speaker - it ´grated´ on my ear.  Maybe I shouldn´t have criticised the translator for using it - but my personal opinion was that it sounded weird...I will cease with this comment

I didn´t think anyone was having a go at me, it´s ok 

I just wanted to say that, if my English was better and if I was able to get into all its finesses, I could probably find a better translation.

As for example, there is one translation with " It rained incessantly . . ." included:

Remember Barbara
It rained incessantly on Brest that day
And you walked smiling
É panou delighted streaming
In the rain
Remember Barbara
It rained incessantly on Brest
And I´ve cross street of Siam
You smiled
And I just smiled
Remember Barbara
You I do not know
You who do not know me
Remember
Remember when this same day
Remember
A man was hiding under a porch
And he shouted your name
Barbara
And you ran into him in the rain
Dripping delighted blooming
And you threw yourself into his arms
Remember that Barbara
And do not blame me if I´m familiar terms
I tell you to everyone I love
Even if I saw them only once
I tell you all those who love
Even if I do not know
Remember Barbara
Remember
This rain wise and happy
On your happy face
On this happy city
The rain on the sea
On the arsenal
On the boat Ouessant
Oh Barbara
What bullshit war
What are you now become
Under this rain of iron
Fire Steel Blood
And whoever you hugged
Lovingly
Is he dead or disappeared alive
Oh Barbara
It rains incessantly Brest
As it rained before
But this is no longer the same and everything is damaged
It is a terrible rain of mourning and desolate
This is not even a storm
Iron Steel Blood
Just clouds
Who die like dogs
Dogs that disappear
Over water on Brest
And will rot away
In the distance far from Brest
Which nothing remains.

 Unfortunarely, I couldn´t find the name of the translator...

I don´t think anyone thought you were having a go at Slavica.  It´s good to discuss use of English sometimes because it helps users who are learning the language. That´s why I provided a few alternatives.

Thanks for the tip about editing.  Now . . . have you any tips for getting rid of a frozen screen?  My laptop is very moody nowadays and I am a technopleb.