a special trilingual post

During my recent foray into the K'iche' Maya language and culture, I came across Humberto Ak'abal (not personally, just literarily), a Guatemalan poet who publishes in both Maya K'iche' and Spanish. Here is the Spanish version of one of my favorites:

¡Ay!
quién pudiera ser alondra.

Ella sólo volando puede cantar;
cuanto más alto es su vuelo,
más bello su canto.


I am long out of practice in literary translation, but I'll give it a shot:

Oh!
who could be the skylark?

Only flying can she sing;
the higher her flight,
the prettier her song.


and just for fun, an even worse translation into German:

Ach!
wer könnte Feldlerche sein?

Nur fliegend kann sie singen;
je höher ihr Flug,
desto schöner ihr Lied.