The Choice Scottish Gaelic-English translation by Ross Coleman

is berating himself for his lack of audacity but says that if he had the chance, he’d do anything to win his love.

Out with my reason I walked by the shore Together we were But she staying a few feet away

Then she turned Said:

“Have you heard Your lovely bright love Is to be married Monday?”

I checked the heart Boiling in my torn breast:

“Of course I know. Why the hell should I lie about it Why should I think That I could catch that bright star and put it safe in my pocket?”

translated by Ross Coleman

I did not die a soldier’s death in Spain And thus how should I expect The glossy prize of poetry?

For what path did I follow but The dry path The gentle path Lukewarm, Thus do I deserve To be dashed by the thunderbolt of love?

But, If I had the choice again, Standing on a height I’d leap from heaven or hell With a pure spirit and a pure heart.

INTERMEDIAL TRANSLATION Poem II of TwentyOne Love Poems

Adrienne Rich

Rich’s poem is a proclamation of love and intimacy between two women. My translation seeks to visually translate Rich’s creative process and the bright tenderness that she finds in love.

I wake up in your bed. I know I have been dreaming. Much earlier, the alarm broke us from each other, you’ve been at your desk for hours. I know what I dreamed: our friend the poet comes into my room where I’ve been writing for days, drafts, carbons, poems are scattered everywhere, and I want to show her one poem which is the poem of my life. But I hesitate, and wake. You’ve kissed my hair to wake me. I dreamed you were a poem, I say, a poem I wanted to show someone… and I laugh and fall dreaming again of the desire to show you to everyone I love, to move openly together in the pull of gravity, which is not simple, which carries the feathered grass a long way down the upbreathing air.