When I found a stack of poems, in Hungarian, dating from the 1930s I hoped I had a trove that would yield the secrets of Paul Weidlinger’s teenage years. It turns out that most of them are drivel (sort of what you’d expect from a teenage boy) but there is a particularly dark one that I found interesting. The Ballad of the Invalids is dated September 7, 1932. Below are both the original Hungarian and an English translation. (To Hungarian, bi-lingual readers: Can you suggest any improvements on the translation?) Paul was seventeen when he wrote it. I wonder if it is a veiled reflection of his political views. He belonged to an underground communist youth group and contributed to their paper, The Red Student. Young people, aligning themselves against the proto-fascist government of Miklós Horthy, were awakened to the suffering of their nation’s peasant class. Was the revolt of the “invalids” against the “healthy” a metaphor for the proletariat versus the aristocracy?
Click on the pdf to read poem in Hungarian or English.
Anonymous
February 24, 2022 at 1:46 pmI share Attila’s insight of the meaning of Beteg – Sick – Invalid in this poem. My “logic” is based on the poem’s storyline. There are the Sick and the Healthy Ones but time will come and the Sick will unite and the Secret Organization of the Sick will triumph over the Healthy Ones. When you are sick, you might be healthy again. Invalid suggests not being capable. I might be very wrong about this, though. English is my second language and I am still struggling with it.
Also, in the original poem at the end I “hear” a potential switch: “jaj lesz tinektek kik vagytok most boldog Egeszsegesek” -> woe to you who are now happy Healthy = according to google translate. I do not know if the English version delivers that thought.
I liked the poem, Anna Acs
Attila Rona
October 15, 2014 at 2:16 pmTom,
“Beteg” does not mean “invalid” in English. Even though Google translate it as “patient,” the more correct translation would be “sick.” “Betegek” is plural. Of course, Paul was writing about the struggle of the working class (the sick, the weak) versus the ruling class (the healthy, the strong) and predicting that the tables will turn.
Attila
Mike Koehler
October 10, 2014 at 2:03 pmBased upon reading the poem, this was a young man of stunning insight with not as extrme an interpretation of the feelings of invalids as one might think. Many do experience a seething, underlying anger that coud use some sort of exprssion. Your father’s choice took it to a fascinating extreme — as most poets often do to exaggerate their interpretation and the imagery that gives it life. I liked it and believe, as you do, that this was an intelligent and fascinating man.
Attila Rona
October 2, 2014 at 7:32 pmTom,
Who translated the poem? Was that you father? If yes, I cannot touch it. He knew what he wanted to say with the peom.
Attila