Poeta Momento — La Ŝipeto

Ne ŝipeto, sed boato.

I’ll start this off in English, even though this might be a moment to do a post completely in Esperanto. There is a wealth of literature in Esperanto; at one point I toyed with the idea of finding poems, essays, and stories and making them more accessible on the web (yeah, you can search through old issues of various magazines, but sometimes that gets a little frustrating). I haven’t done it (in part, because it’s a big task), but I still think about it from time to time.[1]

A simpler idea that I’ve also toyed with would be to have an Esperanto poem once a week or so, much in the manner done (until recently) by Andrew Sullivan’s blog, The Daily Dish.[2] It’s easier, but I’ve still kept putting it off, but here is the first attempt at including a poem on this blog. Not one of mine,[3] but instead one from the January 1896 issue of Lingvo Internacia. Lingvo Internacia was, for a period, the main magazine of the Esperanto movement, a successor to La Esperantisto, but in 1896 its glory days (and eventual decline) are still ahead of it, and it’s the ambitious magazine of the Klubo Esperantista en Upsala (the Upsala Esperantist Club).

The poem (which is shorter than all of this preparatory matter) is by one I. Seleznet, about whom I can find almost nothing. He (referred to as “s-ro Seleznet”) was aRussian Esperantist, creating both translations and new compositions. A few of his poems (but not this one) are included in the Fundamento Krestomatio, Zamenhof’s collection of the best of early Esperanto writing. This poem was included in William S. Benson’s textbook “Bensona Universala Metodo.”

             Ŝipeto

Sur ondoj malvarmaj, sur maro bruanta
Vidiĝas ŝipeto naĝanta;
Ĝi forte kun maro bolanta batalas:
Konstante leviĝis kaj falas.
Sed tute ne vane ŝiriĝas la velo:
Ŝipeto rapidas al celo.
Ĝin paca ripozo atendas post veno
En bona, trankvila havano.
                  Seleznet

Eble mi devis verki tiun blogaĵon esperante, sed mi estas iomete okupita hodiaŭ, kaj mi povas verki angle pli rapide. Mi pardonpetas.

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1. A similar project would be to transcribe and index all the various news stories about Esperanto in the American press. It’s a massive task, and I can assure you that no matter how many blog posts I put up about Esperanto, I’m in no danger of running out of news.  ↩
2. No link, because Sullivan is bringing his blog to an end. No idea what’s going to happen there.  ↩
3. Though that could happen. I’ve written a few poems, although I’m not much of a poet. It happens from time to time.  ↩