DORM LA NISSAGA D'AUCELLS DE LES ALES MOLT GRANS...

After a few very intense weeks with The Morgans, The Grandma continues with other trainings, but this time online. Online training has its pros and cons like anything, but one of the interesting things is that it allows you geographic mobility because you only need a good internet connection, so The Grandma has decided to escape the big city for a few days and recharge her batteries in one of her most beloved places, Mallorca, before it is invaded by foreigners in need of an easy party and a crazy life.

Enjoying the most wonderful places on this beautiful island in the company of good music and good reading is a pleasure that should never be given up, so The Grandma has chosen the poetry collection of one of her most admired classical poets, Aλκμάν.

Alcman, in Ancient Greek Aλκμάν or Alkmán, (7th century BC) was an Ancient Greek choral lyric poet from Sparta. 

He is the earliest representative of the Alexandrian canon of the Nine Lyric Poets. He wrote six books of choral poetry, most of which is now lost; his poetry survives in quotation from other ancient authors and on fragmentary papyri discovered in Egypt. His poetry was composed in the local Doric dialect with Homeric influences. Based on his surviving fragments, his poetry was mostly hymns, and seems to have been composed in long stanzas made up of lines in several different metres. 

Some fragments of Alcman's poetry reflect early cosmological ideas, where he poetically describes the origins of the universe and natural phenomena. His works blend mythological narratives with reflections on the cosmos, a characteristic feature of early Greek thought before the emergence of formal philosophy. Alcman's hymns suggest an interest in the order of the natural world, the role of primordial forces, and the creation of the cosmos; themes later explored more systematically by Presocratic philosophers like Thales, Anaximander, and Leucippus.

Scholars argue that Alcman's poetic cosmogony represents an important step toward the philosophical inquiry that developed in ancient Greece. While he did not formulate scientific theories, his lyrical exploration of the cosmos contributed to the broader intellectual tradition of early Greek cosmology.

 

Dormen els cims de les muntanyes
I el fons de la mar
I el promontori llunyà
I el precipici

Dorm tota casta de bèsties
Que la terra fosca nodreix
I animals salvatges del món
I la família de les aus
I els monstres d'estances profundes
Del mar violeta

Dorm la nissaga d'aucells de les ales molt grans
I els monstres d'estances profundes
Del mar violeta

Aquesta nit dormiran
Aquesta nit jo també dormiré

Dins els boscos i selves llunyanes
On viuen les flors

Dormen petites abelles
Dins el rusc amagat

Aquesta nit dormiran
Aquesta nit jo també dormiré

 

Asleep are the mountain heights,
And the deep places of the sea;
Asleep the distant promontory,
And the sheer cliff.

Asleep are all the tribes of living things
Whom the dark earth sustains;
The wild creatures that roam the world,
And every brood of birds.

Asleep the creatures of the violet sea,
In their profound abodes;
Asleep the race of mighty-wingèd birds.

This night shall they sleep;
This night shall I also sleep,

In forests and in far-off jungles,
Where flowers have their dwelling.

Small bees lie sleeping
Within the hidden hive.

This night shall they sleep;
This night shall I also sleep.

More information: Tufts Digital Library

Aquesta nit dormiran
Aquesta nit jo també dormiré

This night shall they sleep;
This night shall I also sleep. 

Alcman/Maria del Mar Bonet