The Balloon

mini-bio and verse translation

source: StockSnap

a poem by Géza Röhrig, translated by Joe Váradi

The Balloon

I found my daughter’s balloon
up in the attic. It is three years old.
Still has some air,
hasn’t let out,
just a bit shriveled,
but it’s still beautiful,
been watching it for hours,
has my little girl’s breath inside of it;
she didn’t let me help her inflate it,
you could hardly see her behind the spreading bubble,
so pink, then something popped,
I charged into the room,
but it wasn’t the balloon, it was a gun,
startled, she rushed into my arms,
I told her: we are leaving, now,
you cannot bring the balloon,
men are shooting guns, nearby,
through the garden is safest, quick, your shoes,
let me at least pop it,
she wailed,
you’ll pop it when we return.
That’s that. I’ll tie another knot around the mouth of that old balloon.

A word about the poet: Géza Röhrig, born in Budapest, Hungary, orphaned at the age of four, is a former Kindergarten teacher, punk rock musician, biblical scholar, writer and more recently an actor, best known for his lead in the jarring Holocaust film Son of Saul which won both the Grammy and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 2016. His latest project is called To Dust with Matthew Broderick.

source: tabletmag.com

Generally, his stuff is pretty dark.

the original poem:

A lufi

Megtaláltam a lányom lufiját
a padláson. Egy hároméves lufi.
Még van benne szufla,
még nem engedett ki,
csupán megráncosodott,
de azt is olyan szépen,
órák óta nézem,
az én kicsi lányom lehellete benne;
nem hagyta, hogy segítsek neki fújni,
szinte teljesen eltakarta már a pöffeszkedő gumi,
olyan rózsaszín, s valami durrant,
berontottam a szobába rögtön,
de nem a lufi, hanem egy pisztoly volt,
a lányom ijedten rohant az ölembe,
mondtam: most gyorsan elmegyünk,
a lufit nem hozhatod,
bácsik lövöldöznek egészen közel,
a kerten át biztosabb, vedd már a cipődet,
legalább hadd pukkasszam ki én,
bömbölt a lányom,
majd kipukkasztod, ha visszajöttünk.
Hát így. Még egy csomót kötök a vén lufi nyakára.

Thanks for your attention! Please see more of my poetry and translations, below

My Poetry