Let the World�s Peoples Shout - Poem

Bloeddier i Bobloedd y Byd

A sylwoch mor ddiamser
Yw dyn wrth ddod at iaith newydd?
Bydd, fe fydd yn baglu dros gytseiniaid,
Yn gohirio llafariaid,
Yn gwisgo holl arfogaeth ei ddyhead
Am fuddugoliaeth dros fynegiant.
A bydd, fe fydd ei dafod
Fel baban bach ar ei ben ôl.

Felly, bydded i bob un o genhedloedd byd
Ddysgu iaith esgymun ei gymydog,
Ie, cropian a chwrian mewn corneli,
Colli cwsg wrth ei thrwsglo;
Cans fel hyn  y daw dileu yr amserau.
Ni ddaw’r gorfennol yn rhwydd ar dafod.
Erys iaith heddiw. Bydd yn ddeiseb hedd-
Gan dynnu i lawr holl ferfau pigog;
Ni fydd yr amherffaith mor berffaith
A phan nad yw.

A bydd agen , hollt a rhwyg
Yn cael eu cyfannu’n y geg agored.
Pob newydd ddysgwr â chof
Am gyweirio cystrawennau,
Cyfod o’i wely, unioni llef.

Ni fydd amser i ledu llid,
Cans bydd llwythau wedi eu llethu
 chyfoeth yr holl gerrig arloesi.

A thrwy’r babanod yn Babel bydd iau
Wedi ei chodi a’r Uniaith yn iachâu
Wrth ymryddhau, rhyddhau wrth hau.

Let the World’s Peoples Shout (translation)

Have you noticed how time-free a person is
When approaching a new language?
Yes, you stumble over consonants,
Postpone vowels,
Encumbered with all the armour of your longing
For the conquest of expression.
And yes, your tongue is like
A baby bumping along on its bottom.

Well then, let each of the world’s peoples learn
The excommunicated language of its neighbour,
Yes, creep and crouch in corners,
Lose sleep in messing it up,
Since this is how tenses will be deleted,
The past will not come fluently on the tongue.
The language of today will stay. It will sue for peace,
Pull down all the barbed-wire verbs.
The imperfect will never be so perfect
As when it ceases to exist.

And cleft, split and rupture will be
Made whole in the open mouth.
Each new learner will have the memory
Of correcting constructions,
Picking up one’s bed, rectifying speech.

There will be no time for spreading hatred,
Since the tribes will be overcome
By the riches of all the founding stones-

And through the babies in Babel
A yoke will be raised, a United Languages heal
In freeing oneself, freeing in sowing the seed.

© Menna Elfyn

(from Cusan Dyn Dall/Blind Man’s Kiss, Bloodaxe Books, 2001)

Read More ... Let the World’s Peoples Shout - Analysis