The Waste Land, 황무지

The Waste Land
by T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). 1922.
​

​​APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain. ​

​사월은 가장 잔인한 달
죽은 땅에서 라일락을 키워 내고
추억과 욕정에 얽힌 채
잠든 뿌리를 봄비로 깨운다.

Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, 10
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.

And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie, 15
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, 20
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock, 25
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust. 30
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu,
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
“You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; 35
They called me the hyacinth girl.”
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, 40
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Öd’ und leer das Meer.

* reference url
http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html​

* about The waste land
​​https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waste_Land​

​19세기 말과 20세기 초 사이, 문학/미술/과학등의 분야에 현대경제/예술/과학에 초석을 일궈낸 지식인들이 (예술가, 과학자, 철학자, 경제학자..등등) 참 많았던 것 같다. 오래도록 회자되는 문학/음악/미술작품들을 보다보면 한 평생 사람이 지구에 머물다 가는 시간은 매우 짧지만 세대를 아우르는 그들의 작품, 성과들은 오래도록 후세에 깊은 고찰을 남기는구나.. 싶다. 인류의 공통된 관심사(예를 들자면 희노애락 같은..)를 그들만의 탁월한 시선으로 작품에 담아내서가 아니련지.

잔인한 사월이 오고 있다. 윤동주 외 해외에서 내가 가장 좋아하는 시인 중 한명, TS 엘리엇의 황무지로부터.