Izlan n Federico García Lorca [Tasuɣlt]

Andalusian Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) was dubbed the "poet of absence". Here are two short poems from one of his earlier works Suites (before the Gypsy Ballads). Quirky and playful, graceful with Lorca's characteristic analogy-skipping metaphors.

"Acacia" is from the suite El jardín de las morenas; "Madre" is from the suite Noche.

Amṛaḍ
Mayd imgrn aṣnṣim
n tziri ?

(izryaġd iẓġ^wṛan
n waman)
Is ur aġ iwhin a(d) nbbi aldjig
n umṛaḍ amġlul !

The original:

Acacia
¿Quièn segó el tallo
de la luna?
(Nos dejó raíces
de agua)

¡Qué fácil nos sería cortar las flores
de la eterna acacia!

In "berber" folklore, stars are often associated with children, with the moon as a stand-in for the mother. This next poem taps into a shared imaginary.

Tamarawt
Talmt

tssuḍeḍ takmmust-nns
adis s ignna.
Sxurr
a ba-ysxurr.
Itran injuġn njmat—
a titratin ilqqaqn !

The original:

Madre
La osa mayor
da teta a sus estrellas
panza arriba.
Gruñe
y gruñe.
¡Estrellas niñas, huid,
estrellitas tiernas !

A few words on the translation:
In Tamaziɣt, "osa mayor", the "big dipper", is called /talmt/ or /talɣmt/: "she-camel".
Lorca's poem is written in what one might call "F major"; "F" for "feminine": every noun has a feminine gender. "Estrellas" in Tamaziɣt are masculine: /itran/, and the word is only two syllables to boot. To try and maintain the prevalence of the feminine, and a bit of the breath of the verse as well, I have opted to render "estrellas" of the second verse with /takmmust/, which is both feminine and tri-syllabic, and means "a bunch of stars". Couldn't find a way around /itran/ of the penultimate verse.