Reading Birket-Smith´s book about Inuit people I have found this pretty song which apparently was sang once by Copper Eskimos.
"The song of a death man dreamed by an alive one"
Tell me, Was the life in Earth so beautiful?
Here hapinness fills me
every time aurora raises over the Earth
and the great Sun
slides up in the sky.
But the rest of the time I lie, anxious and afraid
covered by larva and worms
which quenched in the clavicle cavity
and pierce my eyes
Aji, jai, ja
I found it creepy and beautiful at the same time, it would be the perfect epitaph to be carved in my gravestone. Any knowledge about its origins would be welcome.
Thanks to Russell Potter I could find who was the author, an Inuit poet called Netsit, and also the original transcription which is by far prettier than my original translation from Spanish. Besides, the poem is complete:
ResponderEliminarDead Man´s song (Dreamed by one who is alive)
I am filled with joy
When the day peacefully dawns
Up over the heavens
Ayi, yaiya
I am filled with joy
When the sun slowly rises
Up over the heavens
Ayi, yai ya
But else I choke with fear
At greedy maggot throngs
They eat their way in
At the hollow of my collarbone
And in my eyes
Ayi, yai ya
Here I lie, recollecting
How stifled with fear I was
When they buried me
In a snow hut out on the lake
Ayi, yai ya
A block of snow was pushed to
Incomprehensible it was
How my soul should make its way
And fly to the game land up there
Ayi, yai ya
That door-block worried me
And ever greater grew my fear
When the fresh water ice split in the cold
And the frost-crack thunderously grew
Up over the heavens
Ayi, yai ya
Glorious was life
In winter
But did winter bring me joy?
No! Ever was I so anxious
For sole-skins and skins for kamiks
Would there be enough for us all?
Yes, I was ever anxious
Ayi, yai ya
Glorious was life
In summer
But did summer bring me joy?
No! Ever was I so anxious
For skins and rugs for the platform
Yes, I was ever anxious
Ayi, yai ya
Glorious was life
When standing at one´s fishing hole
On the ice
But did standing at the fishing hole bring me joy
No! Ever was I so anxious
For my tiny little fish-hook
If it should not get a bite Ayi, yai ya
Glorious was life
When dancing in the dance house
But did dancing in the dance house bring me joy?
No! Ever was I so anxious
That I could not recall
The song I was to sing
Yes, I was ever anxious
Ayi, yai ya
Glorious was life
Now I am filled with joy
For every time a dawn
Makes white the sky of night
For every time the sun goes up
Over the heavens
Ayi, yai ya
Netsit was a true genius. He acknowledges a song greater than a mortal man. It is not a song of death, but of a deeper life to be lived and loved.
ResponderEliminarThanks for the comment and for the information, very appreciated
ResponderEliminar