Tara Reynolds reading the Italian translation of Fire

Judy Brown writes: “This is Tara Reynolds reading “Fire” – “Il Fuoco” in Italian before a fire in Minnesota at a Courage & Renewal gathering. (Tara is a co-founder of WholeHeart and a facilitator-in-training with the Center for Courage & Renewal.)

During the reading, the dining folks were resetting the dining room – thus all the background noise – but then if “Fire” is about space and quiet, the noise is a good reminder that the world is always with us. Tara said we could post the video of her reading if I said her Italian isn’t perfect. I told her the poem wasn’t perfect either.

The Italian translation was a gift from Richard Brady, a teacher who taught high school math at Sidwell Friends School. Richard now teaches meditation in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh using “Fire” as a meditative framing. He has had the poem translated to use in his teaching in Italy and into Vietnamese for when he is teaching there.

I think the Italian is more beautiful than the original English version that I wrote – and it makes me wonder if when we translate something into the language of others, so they can understand it, we may find we have created something more powerful and beautiful than the original.”

Many thanks to Tara Reynolds for the reading and Richard Brady for the translation.

Il Fuoco

Ciò che fa ardere un fuoco
è lo spazio che vi è fra i ciocchi di legna,
lo spazio del respiro.
Troppi ciocchi
pressati troppo stretti tra loro
possono spegnere le fiamme
come farebbe
un secchio d’acqua.
Preparare un fuoco
richiede attenzione
nella scelta dello spazio
quanto a quello della legna.

Quando saremo capaci di costruire
spazi aperti
nello stesso modo
in cui abbiamo imparato
a sistemare i ciocchi per il fuoco,
allora potremmo capire che
il combustibile e la sua assenza
insieme rendono possibile accenderlo.

Dobbiamo imparare solo ad aggiungere legna,
delicatamente, di tanto in tanto.
Un fuoco arde
semplicemente perché vi è lo spazio,
dove la fiamma
che conosce esattamente come vuole ardere
può trovare la sua opportunità.

– Judy Brown

Da Teaching with Fire and Leading from Within

Questions to consider:

Thinking of Tara reading “Fire” in Italian. How is your teaching a process of “translating” what you are most passionate about into the language of those you teach?  When has that process of translating helped you see with fresh eyes the unexpected beauty of what you thought you knew by heart?