Accumulations

In the new issue of the Paris Review that just came

there are translations of Mirlitonnades (Doggerels)

by Samuel Beckett. I was reminded of the sea-things 

that have accumulated in this abalone shell

since my sister gave it to me many years ago.

Beckett approved the translations from French

before he died, but they have not been published until now.

This is the English translation of one of six pairs

that also include the French.

alive dead only season mine

white lilies feverfews

vivid nests forsaken

silt of April leaves

frost fair hoar grey days

Samuel Beckett

(1906-1989)

The Paris Review 215, 

Winter 2015,

page 135.

Set yourself the task of writing

short groups of mostly nouns 

like this to enliven those

dreary winter evenings.. .

Beckett was born the same year as my father
and only lived a couple of years longer,
so I count them as members of 
the same generation.
It interests me to compare
the way poets are marked
by their times, with the lives
and times of family members.