[Golias]

TOO MANY TONGUES

Es deficil de comprender
cómo a pesar de ser, tu mismo
una persona allegre,
hay quien dicen que escribes
los versos mas oscuros.

(It's hard to understand how
in despite of being, yourself,
a very happy person,
there are those who say you write
the darkest of verses.)

Anone, anata no shi wa
senryu mata haiku imas’ ka?

(Say, are your poems
senryu or haiku?_)

Kilung p’ngai, I men k’en
esa m’en sota kak tokiunguk.

(Look , I want you to know
I can't believe you.)

Er din engelsk dyb som finsk?
Forsøgte du dansk, norsk eller svensk?

(Is your English deep as Finnish?
Did you try Danish, Norwegian or Swedish?)

Francais est bien pour anecdotes,
Deutsch für techneche hinweise.

(French is good for anecdotes;
German for technical notes.)>

Can we just restart our former plan
to teach a common tongue in every land?
Zamenhof’s’ Esperanto lives awaiting
new approval, study and updating.
If we still have world enough and time
we can make up for Gabriel Hanotaux’s* crime.



* HAN-ah-TO's

[Ann Drysdale]

Ja estas tempo por lingvo bazita sur espero.

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

Two linguistic nits:

1. "senryu or haiku", not "senryus or haikus".

2. "Er dit engelsk dybt som finsk?
xxxForsøgte (or: Forsögte) du dansk, norsk og svensk?"

not

"Er din engelsk dyb som finsk?
Forsog du dansk, norsk og svensk?"

[Golias]

Feliĉa, ke vi konsentas, Ann

Tak for den, Duncan. My dansk is not what it used to be. Time and Parkinson's have cost me a lot in all the languages I touch on here.

Let me take this opportunity to refer folks to the Wikipedia article on the development and history of esperamto, especially to the named persons.


Wiley Clements (Golias, after patron saint of vagabonds)