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you will find a spring and nourished by its sweet waters

English translation: you will be nourished

16:37 Dec 5, 2018
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
English term or phrase: you will find a spring and nourished by its sweet waters
I'm confused about this line from Coleman Barks' rendition of a Rumi poem. Does it mean he will be nourished, or the spring is nourished? Not sure whether this should be read as an ellipsis or not.

"My heart, sing the song of longing like nightingale.
The sound of your voice casts a spell on every stone, on every thorn.
First, lay down your head, then one by one let go of all distractions.
Embrace the light and let it guide you beyond the winds of desire.
There you will find a spring and nourished by its sweet waters.
Like a tree, you will bear fruit forever."
Oliver Simões
United States
Local time: 17:12
Selected answer:you will be nourished
Explanation:
There's a typo here. I think there are two possibilities:

"You will find a spring and be nourished"
" You will find a spring and, nourished by its sweet waters, like a tree...

Of course water doesn't nourish, so it's either poetic licence or a mistranslation. I like to think the former :-)

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Note added at 14 mins (2018-12-05 16:51:26 GMT)
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I think my first suggestion, that "be" is missing, is more likely. It's a smaller and easier mistake to make than screwing up the punctuation of two lines.
Selected response from:

philgoddard
United States
Grading comment
Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +8you will be nourished
philgoddard


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +8
you will be nourished


Explanation:
There's a typo here. I think there are two possibilities:

"You will find a spring and be nourished"
" You will find a spring and, nourished by its sweet waters, like a tree...

Of course water doesn't nourish, so it's either poetic licence or a mistranslation. I like to think the former :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 mins (2018-12-05 16:51:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think my first suggestion, that "be" is missing, is more likely. It's a smaller and easier mistake to make than screwing up the punctuation of two lines.

philgoddard
United States
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 50
Grading comment
Thank you!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, Phil. That was my guess, too, that "be" is missing. I'm thinking "nourish" is a poetic license, it sounds better than "quench", in my opinion.

Asker: Thank you, Yvonne and Tony. Adding the punctuation makes a lot of sense. I dropped the "be" that was suggested by Phil.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  B D Finch: I think the punctuation is screwed up. Inserting "be" would spoil the rhythm. Suggest: "and, nourished by its sweet waters,/ Like a tree, ...".
14 mins
agree  Yvonne Gallagher: incorrect punctuation imo... find a spring and, nourished by its sweet waters/Like a tree, you will bear fruit forever. Person + tree both nourished. To bear fruit you need water!
26 mins
agree  Tony M: No typo, makes perfect sense as is: "you will find a spring and (nourished by its sweet waters) (like a tree,) you will bear fruit forever." And 'water' can 'nourish' too !
49 mins
agree  Tina Vonhof (X): Agree with Yvonne.
3 hrs
agree  Jack Doughty
5 hrs
agree  JohnMcDove: Punctuation or not punctuation, both seem fine to me. But I tend to agree with Yvonne, just for the sake of poetry, free verse or "slave verse". :-)
8 hrs
agree  Shekhar Banerjee
14 hrs
agree  acetran
1 day 23 hrs
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