Mantis 22 (Summer 2024)
()bservations
attributed to Columba
F.
Factis simul sideribus,
aetheris luminaribus,
collaudaverunt angeli
factura pro mirabili
immensae molis Dominum,
opificem caelestium,
praeconio laudabili,
desbito et immobili,
concentuque egregio
grates egerunt Domino
amore et arbitrio,
non naturae donario.
I.
Invehunt nubes pontias
ex fontibus brumalias
tribus profundioribus
oceani dodrantibus
maris, caeli climatibus,
caeruleis turbinibus
profuturas segetibus,
vineis et germinibus,
agitatae flaminibus
thesauris emergentibus,
quique paludes marinas
evacuant reciprocas.
V.
Vagatur ex climactere
Orion caeli cardine
derelicto Virgilio
astorum splendidissimo;
per metas Thetis ignoti
orientalis circuli,
girans certis ambagibus
redit priscis reditibus,
oriens post biennium
Vesperugo in vesperum;
sumpta in problematibus
tropicis intellectibus.
Harmony of the Heavens
As soon as the stars
And their lights had been made,
The angels praised the Lord,
Who created through wonders
The immense, shapeless mass,
Fated and unmoving,
Praising with paeans
The Maker of the heavens.
They sing in a single harmony
Thanks to the Lord
Led not by nature’s treasures
But love and choice.
Translated by Christian Lopac
The Origin of the Sea
The clouds carry the sea
From its wintry origins—
The three deeper waters
Of the ocean’s sea—
To the region of the sky.
Cerulean blue eddies
Nourish grains,
Vines, and shoots.
A blowing blast stirs
Treasures to rise
And empties the marsh
Back into the sea.
Translated by Christian Lopac
The Celestial Christ
He moves from the highest point,
Orion, pivot of Heaven,
Leaving the Pleiades,
The greatest splendor,
Past the boundary of the unknown sea
Of the eastern belt.
Orbiting in fixed windings,
Having risen, the evening star returns
By ancient paths in the eveningtide.
Take these stars as riddles
With figurative meanings.
Translated by Christian Lopac
CHRISTIAN LOPAC is a translator and holds an MA in religious studies from the University of Chicago. Lopac’s translations of Bosnian poetry have appeared in Delos (“Six Bosnian Sevdalinka Songs”).