‘Sleepwalker’ by Dua Abbas Rizvi. Image courtesy of the artist.
Jeg regner med I laver espalier af high fives,
nu hvor jeg kommer hjem alene.
At det bli’r gang i det store rygklapperi, lommefilosofi og
gaveræs.
Fordi jeg ikke samlede skoen op, ikke klippede en tå eller
Huggede en hæl, men fløjtende saksede det hele i stumper
og stykker.
Jeg regner med I laver espalier af high fives,
nu hvor jeg kommer hjem alene.
Nu hvor I rykker ind
og overtager det hele.
Jeg satser på I har rullet den sorte løber ud,
og at himlen hoster op med confetti.
Jeg forventer at I alle syv
bærer ved
til en fest af de sygt store:
Med fri bar
og homerisk latter af vanvittig morsomme vittigheder
om det andet køn.
Egoisme, Ejerfornemmelse, Jalousi, Rastløshed, Begær,
Tvivl og Smålighed.
Det er det mindste jeg kan forlange,
nu hvor det hele igjen er jeres.
Jeg regner med I laver espalier af high fives,
nu hvor jeg kommer hjem alene.
~ Jesper Wung-Sung
I reckon you’ll greet me with espaliers of high fives
when you see me come home alone.
I imagine there’ll be a jockeying of back-slapping, pop-psychology, and
showers of gifts.
For I neither cut off a toe, nor shaved off a heel
just minced my way
through it all
with a smile.
I reckon you’ll greet me with espaliers of high fives
when you see me come home alone.
Now when you step in
and take over the rest of my kingdom.
I’ll bet you’ll unroll the big black carpet
and streams of confetti will be belched from the heavens.
And I expect that all seven of you will oil the flames
of a party of monstrous proportions:
An open bar
and Homeric laughter at various hilarious jokes
about the opposite sex.
Egoism, Possessiveness, Jealousy, Restlessness, Desire,
Doubt, and Pettiness.
This is the least I can expect
now that all is yours once more.
I reckon you’ll greet me with espaliers of high fives
when you see me come home alone.
~Trans. from Danish by Lindy Falk van Rooyen
Jesper Wung-Sung is the author of the 1998 BogForum Award–winning debut collection of short stories ‘Kick and Rush’, and the 2010 Danish Ministry of Culture’s Author Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Books winner ‘The Copies’. In 2011 he was awarded the Danish Library Association’s Prize for Children’s Books, and in 2012 he was listed as the most-read Danish young adult author. He lives in Svendborg, Denmark, with his family.
Lindy Falk van Rooyen is a South African-born literary translator living and working in Denmark. She holds an LL.M in Commercial Law and an MA in Scandinavian and English Literature. Her translations have appeared in The Blue Lyra Review and Asymptote Journal. Simon & Schuster published her first book-length translation in March 2016 and her next translation is forthcoming with Soho Press in spring 2017.
