Folk Song
Translated By Brian Henry
Every true poet is a monster.
He destroys the voice and the people.
His singing builds the technology that destroys
the earth so that the worms don’t eat us.
A drunkard sells his coat.
A scoundrel sells his mother.
Only a poet sells his soul
to separate it from the body that he loves.
Translated from the Slovenian
Notes:
Read the Slovenian-language original, “Ljudska,” and the translator’s note by Brian Henry.
Source: Poetry (May 2023)