Located at the intersection of regional roads to Pazin, Kanfanar, Svetvincenat and Labin, Zminj is a small town in Istria, Croatia.
Zminj Library is a most beautiful historic house in town. There I met librarian and dedicated poet Nada Galant.
Over the years, Galant published four books of her poems written in Zminj Chakavian dialect, a dialect only use by a community of less than 4,000 people.
National Geographic report Enduring Voices says, “By 2100, more than half of the 7,000 languages spoken on Earth – many of them not yet recorded – may disappear…”
DANAS JE TA DAN is one of Nada’s poems loved by her daughter Ana Galant, a student of Comparative Literature and big fan of mom.
I asked Ana for a literal translation of DANAS JE TA DAN into English.
Here is the beautiful Nada – Ana Duo
Today is the day – by Nada Galant / English translation by Ana Galant
If there is any whole pocket left,
We should unfold it and stack
In front of us everything that’s in it
Today is the day
(breadcrumbs will be good for the birds, everything else – we can do without)
Today is the day
If we could only find the doors through
which we passed so cursorily
Then we could go back, not backwards,
to slowly and thoroughly,
From scratch,
Be a child, a grandchild, a friend…
Be everything once again
Not so much to change things,
But to slowly be and not run away
Today is that day,
And where was I looking?
To read a copy of the untranslated poem, you may contact Sindy Chan at chansindy.cd@gmail.com
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