Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Updated Psalms: Psalm 27 - Alicia Ostriker

Psalm 27

we are told to say the following
every day for a month
in preparation for the days of awe:

you are my light my help
when I'm with you I'm not afraid
I want to live in your house

the enemies that chew my heart
the enemies that break my spine
I'm not afraid of them when I’m with you

all my life I have truly trusted you
save me from the liars
let me live in your house



There are twenty-one days left until Ash Wednesday, the deadline for translating a Psalm (read details here). Today I ran across this distillation by Alicia Ostriker who calls the Book of Psalms "both attractive and repulsive emotionally and theologically." Instead of word for word, she goes for the heart of the poetry, also inserting personal experience. I like this collaborative approach to translating. It's one good way out of many to approach your translation. I hope will try your hand at it, dear reader.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Sigh No More