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Translation (Free verse) by Dovina

She wrote a poem in Spanish and its rhythm flowed like water. “Tell me what it says,” I asked. “A thing so fluid must be true.” “It does not sound so good in English,” she apologized, and frowned as she studied the verse. “It’s about a girl who loved greatly a man, who is killed, and the girl cries, because her lover is dead, and her love will live forever. You understand?” How trite it sounded spoken beside her melodic verse. How might English spin these thoughts to rest as soft as hers? She spoke from the soul of foreign tongue and my tongue’s soul had not the words except in weak translation. “It is very beautiful,” I said.

zodiac 5-Jul-04/12:39 PM
Hmmm. Could it be that neither of you speaks the other's language very well???!?!? YES! The problem isn't that the words don't exist in English to capture what she'd said in Spanish, or anything of the sort; it's just that she doesn't know them, and you don't know Spanish well enough to do it, either.

PS-I've lived months in Spanish-speaking countries. Most of the time they're saying things like, 'Hey, Rosalita, where'd you put the habaneros?' and 'Listen, girl, why don't you suck my giant rat!' and all the tourists are like, 'Oooh! It's the language of romance!!!!!'




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