The following works are interpretive translations by Joel Davison of two poems by Elicura Chihuailaf. The original versions of these poems can be read as part of the piece, ‘Conversation with Elicura Chihuailaf’ in this book. The Dharug versions of the two poems have been translated back into English and are included, along with footnotes, as a reflection on the translation process.
WHERE WILL MY NEW DREAMS GO
Elicura Chihuailaf
A translation from English to Dharug
Warawara ngaya wala: wawubuni gungawa
Gumada yiyari guwugu ngabay
dyi gillydyami gilli
Yarrang mari bulga
Walangadyara
Walamawa ngyini warada
bangawawawi ngubady
Wiyanga wawu ngaya guwugu
Nangamay yanma?
WHERE WILL MY NEW DREAMS GO
Elicura Chihuailaf
A translation of Dharug to English
Far away I was: nowhere, (I was) crying
A spirit thusly, now and always
Lit from your light
Valleys and great hills
Followed me
I returned and your warratah 1
They made me love 2
Mother, where will my present
Dreams go?
THE FOREST OF MEMORY
Elicura Chihuailaf
A translation of English to Dharug, stanzas 1–4.
Ngaya duga, dingaladi guru
nula ngaya butbut
Ngarami bayumi dyi badu?
Durunanang, durung, djurumin, babana
Munurumiwabuni?
Mudungwa guwagu, nagaya gunya
dyi dyinalung, mula
dyi binyang. wiring, guwul
dyi bemul, gunyagunya
dyi ngalangala dyiral
Nulawa mudung gura dyi butbut ngyini
Ngyina djirang gurgi dyi ganawa
dyirang dyi gili djurali
Na bagangun buraga
nula bawuwan?
Dingaladi bayumi daramu
nula nangamay gili
dyi buruwa burudyara
Naawami ngaya guwagu dyi
yanmamibuni birrung gamarabu
ngaya mudung munuruwamibuni dyi nganaga
dyi wiyanga bemul muru
munurumibuni managnun dyi
dyi mari guru
namila wumeradyi giba nawabuni
mawamiwawi dyi bulga
dyi wiyanga bemul
Ngaya mari duga dyi wingaradya
dyi iyora gunyalunyalung
ngumun manuwimi bemul
wawa dyi ngabay
THE FOREST OF MEMORY
Elicura Chihuailaf
A translation of Dharug to English, stanzas 1–4.
I am the forest, it is the deep 1
from my heart
Do you hear the music/tune of water
Daughter, son, sister, brother
You didn’t forget me?
I’m alive still/presently, I am the house
of women and men
of birds and animals male & female 2
of earth and insects
of mushrooms and shoals 3
Your wind lives inside of my heart
In between leaves and roots of my scent
the leaves of light grow
See how conversation rises
in the shadows?
It is the music of the trees
in which Dreams shine
of clouds and butterflies
Look at me, I’m still here for
you don’t walk among the stars today
I’m here so you don’t forget the big questions
of mother earths’ path
do you remember that we gathered from
the great deep
Look at the flight of the stones you cannot see
They hold you in the forest
of Mother Earth
You see? I am the great forest of past thoughts
of people and the dreaming
silence from my feet on the earth
and towards the future
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The original English translation reads: ‘I am the forest and this is the Blue.’ There were no words for colours recorded. ↩
-
The original English translation reads: ‘of birds and animals.’
I only know the gendered collective words for animals. ↩ -
The original uses ‘fungi’, I’ve used a generic term for mushrooms and fungi. ↩
