I found the poem Pretty Ugly online and it immediately caught my attention both for its meaning and translation challenges. The author Abdullah Shoaib gives us two poems in one, both with a very powerful message about how we perceive ourselves and how easily we can bring ourselves up or down. I really felt quite sad when reading the poem the first time, the lower my eyes dropped, the more depressed I became. But reading it for the second time my mood changed and I felt uplifted.
My second thought was: would it be translatable into Polish? Find below the original text and my rendering into Polish. I decided to use female gender for the person talking in the poem, as it is probably mostly us, females, that use this kind of internal dialogue
You’re welcome to try and translate the poem into your native languages. Please post your translations into the comments, so that we can all enjoy and spread the author’s message to the whole world!
The original poem by Abdullah Shoaib:
Pretty Ugly
I’m very ugly
So don’t try to convince me that
I am a very beautiful person
Because at the end of the day
I hate myself in every single way
And I’m not going to lie to myself by saying
There is beauty inside of me that matters
So rest assured I will remind myself
That I am a worthless, terrible person
And nothing you say will make me believe
I still deserve love
Because no matter what
I am not good enough to be loved
And I am in no position to believe that
Beauty does exist within me
Because whenever I look in the mirror I always think
Am I as ugly as people say?
(Now read the same words, but bottom up.)
Polish translation:
Całkiem (nie)brzydka
Jestem bardzo brzydka
Więc nie próbuj mnie przekonać, że
Jestem bardzo piękną osobą
Bo tak naprawdę
Nienawidzę w sobie wszystkiego
I nie będę się okłamywać, mówiąc
Jest we mnie piękno, które ma znaczenie
Więc możesz być pewny, że sama sobie powtórzę, że
Jestem bezwartościową, okropną osobą
I nic, co powiesz nie sprawi, że uwierzę, że
Nadal zasługuję na miłość
Bo tak czy owak
Nie jestem na tyle dobra, by być kochana
I nie mam podstaw, by myśleć, że
Jest we mnie piękno
Bo kiedy patrzę w lustro, zawsze myślę
Czy jestem tak brzydka, jak mówią?
(Teraz przeczytaj od dołu do góry)