Modern Poetry in Translation Series Three, No. 13 © Modern Poetry in Translation 2010 and contributors ISBN 978-0-9559064-4-2 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Short Run Press, Exeter Editors: David and Helen Constantine Reviews Editor: Saradha Soobrayen Administrators: Deborah de Kock and Angela Holton Board Members: Caroline Maldonado (Chair), Amarjit Chandan, Ben Gwalchmai, Graham Henderson, Aamer Hussein, Olivia McCannon, Saradha Soobrayen, Philip Spender, Sian Williams Submissions should be sent in hard copy, with return postage, to David and Helen Constantine, Modern Poetry in Translation, The Queen’s College, Oxford, OX1 4AW. Unless agreed in advance, submissions by email will not be accepted. Only very exceptionally will we consider work that has already been published elsewhere. Translators are themselves responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions. Since we do sometimes authorize further publication on one or two very reputable websites of work that has appeared in MPT, the permissions should cover that possibility. Founding Editors: Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort Subscription Rates: (including postage) UK Overseas Single Issue £9.95 £12.50 / US$ 21 One year subscription (2 issues, surface mail) £19.90 £25.00 / US$ 42 Two year subscription (4 issues, surface mail) £36.00 £46.00 / US$ 77 To subscribe please use the subscription form at the back of the magazine. Discounts available. To pay by credit card please visit www.mptmagazine.com Modern Poetry in Translation is represented in the UK by Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London, E9 5LN For orders: tel +44 (0) 845 458 9911 Fax +44 (0) 845 458 9912 or visit www.mptmagazine.com Modern Poetry in Translation Limited. A Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England and Wales, Number 5881603. UK Registered Charity Number 1118223. Contents

1 Editorial 4 The next issue of MPT 5 James Kirkup, a tanka version of Rimbaud’s ‘Bannièmes de mai’ 8 Martin Bennett, In Memoriam James Kirkup 1918–2009,

translations via Italian from the Japanese 13 Alexander Barash, five poems, translated by Alex Cigale 17 Yaroslav Mogutin, four poems, translated by Alex Cigale 22 Gábor T. Szántó, ‘whose tongue?’, translated by Dániel Dányi 24 Hubert Moore and Nasrin Parvaz, four translations from

Farsi 29 John E. Smelcer, poems from the Ahtna Athabaskan language of Alaska 36 Maurice Riordan, three translations from Irish 44 Arthur McHugh, three translations from French 48 François Villon, two extracts from The Testament, translated by W.D. Jackson 55 Maureen Duffy, from a translation of Sir Orfeo 66 ‘Ajkuna’s Lament’, from the Epic of the Knights, translated by

Robert Wilton 69 Chrétien de Troyes, Le Conte du Graal, extracts from an

English version by Rowan Middleton 77 Carole Satyamurti, ‘Retelling the Mahabharata’, with an extract from the poem 81 Timothy Allen, from Nguyên Du’s Ðoan Truròng Tân Thanh 86 Siriol Troup, ‘After Goethe’, versions of Goethe’s ‘Wandrers

.

Nachtlied’ 89 Oliver Reynolds, poems from Ludwig Uhland