Donald Traxler's Poetry

Monday, October 14, 2019

He Lives in Nature / Il vit dans la nature / El vive en la naturaleza / Ele vive na natureza

He lives in nature.
Poetry is his banner;
nature is his shield.
The sword he does not wield.

Il vit dans la nature.
La poésie est sa bannière;
la nature est son bouclier.
L'épée il ne porte pas.

El vive en la naturaleza.
La poesía es su estandarte;
la naturaleza es su escudo.
La espada no empuña.

Ele vive na natureza.
A poesia é sua bandeira;
a natureza é seu escudo.
A espada ele não empunha.

Synoptica XVII - John's Black Leather Belt

While I was adding the vowel points to Chapter Three of Shem Tob's Hebrew Matthew, I came across a strange thing, and it shows how a lot can be learned from a single word.

וְעוֹר שָחוֹר אָזוֹר בְמָתְנָיו

This is my pointed version, but of course Hebrew vowel points did not exist yet at the time of the evangelists. In the unpointed text it is simply

ועור שחור אזור במתניו

This means, as George Howard (correctly) translated it, "and black leather girded his loins." I noticed the word "black" a long time ago, because it does not survive in any manuscript of the Greek textual tradition, or in any version that I'm aware of. The description of John's raiment did not make it into Luke, but it is in Mark, who translated it as "a leather belt around his waist." This is very interesting, for several reasons.

First of all, why is the word "black" in the (presumably original) Hebrew at all? It is not in any ms of the Greek textual tradition, either in the case of Matthew or in that of Mark. The answer is simple: rhyme. The relevant Hebrew words are pronounced "v'or shachor azor." This triple rhyme is a literary feature of the Hebrew text, and one that does not work in Greek. As it happens, Mark either did not bother to include the adjective, or it had not yet been put into the very early version of Matthew (Matthew I) that he used.

Another interesting point is that Hebrew Matthew says "girded" (belted), while all the Greek mss of both Mark and Matthew say "girdle" (belt). This is a translation variant, explained by the fact that, in an unpointed Hebrew text, the Qal Stative form אזור, (awzor, "belted") looks exactly the same as אזור (ezor, "belt"). This is further evidence for the Semitic substratum in both canonical (Greek) Matthew and canonical (Greek) Mark. According to my Layered Matthew Hypothesis for solution of the Synoptic Problem, both Greek texts were, in fact, translated from Hebrew Matthew, just as Papias told us in the second century.

The reader may wonder how we know which Hebrew word is correct, since "belt" and "belted" look the same in an unpointed text. If we assume that the noun, "belt," is correct, then the word order is wrong. In Hebrew, adjectives and adjectival phrases follow the noun, so "belt" would have been the first word of the three rhymed words, instead of the last. This also tells us that whoever translated Hebrew Matthew into Greek may have been more familiar with Greek than with Hebrew.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

He Is Part of Nature / Il fait partie de la nature / El es parte de la naturaleza / Ele faz parte da natureza

He is part of nature,
and Nature is mistress
of his domain.

Il fait partie de la nature,
et la nature est maîtresse
de son domaine.

El es parte de la naturaleza,
y la naturaleza es Señora
de su dominio.

Ele faz parte da natureza,
e a natureza é Senhora
do seu domínio.

Guided by Spirit / Guidé par l'esprit / Guiado por el espíritu / Guiado pelo Espírito

Guided by Spirit,
the modern-day shaman
travels through time
and space.

Guidé par l'esprit,
le chaman des temps modernes
voyage dans le temps
et l'espace.

Guiado por el espíritu,
el chamán moderno
viaja a través del tiempo
y espacio.

Guiado pelo Espírito,
o xamã moderno
viaja no tempo
e espaço.

Friday, October 11, 2019

He Sifts through Ancient Histories / Il passe au crible des histoires anciennes / Él examina las historias antiguas / Ele vasculha historias antigas

He sifts through ancient histories
to solve the world's mysteries.
These mysteries are very old,
and what he finds has not been told.

Il passe au crible des histoires anciennes
pour résoudre les mystères du monde.
Ces mystères sont très anciens,
et ce qu'il trouve n'a pas été dit.

Él examina las historias antiguas
para resolver los misterios del mundo.
Estos misterios son muy antiguos.
y lo que encuentra no se ha contado.

Ele vasculha histórias antigas
para resolver os mistérios do mundo.
Esses mistérios são muito antigos,
e o que ele encontra não foi informado.

Gog, Son of Magog - I / Gog, fils de Magog - I Gog, hijo de Magog - I /Gog, filho de Magog - I

Gog, son of that Magog whose banner is 300,
came out of the north to battle the Holy One,
to attack the armies of the Name,
in search of wealth and fame.

He sought to make the world his stool,
until his weapons turned against him.
His numbers are 726 and zero,
his name will ever be The Fool.

Gog, fils de ce Magog dont la bannière est 300,
est sorti du nord pour combattre le Saint,
attaquer les armées du Nom,
en quête de richesse et de gloire.

Il a cherché à faire du monde son tabouret,
jusqu'à ce que ses armes se soient retournées contre lui.
Ses nombres sont 726 et zéro,
son nom sera toujours le fou.

Gog, hijo de ese Magog cuyo estandarte es 300,
salió del norte para luchar contra el Santo,
atacar a los ejércitos del Nombre,
en busca de riqueza y fama.

Buscó hacer del mundo su taburete,
hasta que sus armas se volvieron contra él.
Sus números son 726 y cero,
su nombre siempre será el tonto.

Gog, filho daquele Magog cuja faixa é 300,
veio do norte para combater o Santo,
atacar os exércitos do Nome,
em busca de riqueza e fama.

Ele procurou fazer do mundo seu banquinho,
até que suas armas se voltaram contra ele.
Seus números são 726 e zero,
o nome dele sempre será O Louco.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Approaching 69,000 Visits

As I write this, we are approaching 69,000 visits to the entries in this poetry blog. Where do all these visits come from? Well, looking back over the past month we can get a pretty accurate idea:

Country Visits

United States 681
Germany 131
France 123
Ireland 117
Brazil 110
Netherlands 98
Russia 96
Unknown (China?) 89
Middle East 51
India 46

Some of this is rather easily explainable, and some not. The US, as always, is in the lead. That is where I've lived most of my life, and it is where my family is, and most of my friends, so no mystery there. I have only a few contacts in Germany, but those are very scholarly people and they seem to take great interest in my writings on such subjects as the Synoptic Problem. I know more people in France, and the two countries always seem to run neck-and-neck. Ireland is easy: I have 22 living cousins there. I know only a few people in Brazil, which was our neighbor country when we lived in Uruguay. The Netherlands has more naturists per capita, I think, than any other country, and that may explain the blog's popularity there. Russia I can't explain, since I don't speak the language and know almost no one there. The same goes for China. There are apparently some very loyal readers in the small Middle Eastern country, whose privacy I will respect. That, too, is a mystery, since I don't speak Arabic and I don't think I know anyone there. I do have some connections to India, and have written quite a bit on Hindu religious literature, so that one is relatively easy to understand.

Those are just the top ten countries. In the past month we've had visits from many other countries, including Canada, the UK, Australia, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ukrainia, the Chec (spelling?) Republic, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Cameroon, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Moldavia, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Estonia, and many others. The world loves poetry and good photography.

As usual, thank you all for your continued interest and enthusiasm. Wadó. ꮹꮩ.