Ego
I am not worthy
to be called her sun,
and yet her world
revolves around me.
She spins in my space
and short-circuits
her own life to make
mine more livable.
I’d like to say ‘joyous,’
but tears are in all things
(sunt lacrimae rerum)
and
death touches mortal minds
( et
mentem mortalia tangunt).
The best I can offer:
a salt water world,
filled with inadequacies,
drowning us in tears.
Comment: Several things of note in this poem and the voice recording. Should we mix languages in a poem? Why ever not, so long as we explain them. This Latin tag goes back over 2,000 years and links my poem (Intertextuality, remember?) into a long Western tradition. Am I worthy of that tradition? Is my poem? Well, that is a totally different question. However, I am linked in, as you might phrase it. A second question: does my reading of the poem affect your understanding of the poem? If so, how and in what way? Does the phonic word play sun / son affect your understanding of the poem? If so, how? And how does the double meaning of ego work on your mind? Does the Freudian Ego / Id stand out? Or does the schoolboy “Quiz?” “Ego!” spring to mind. Or do you immediately think of the first person singular (Latin) ego as in ego sum lux, via veritas? More important: are you aware of any of this or does the poem disappear into a desert landscape of nothingness with no apparent strings attached? Good questions all: I invite you to think about them all. Blessings and best wishes. Keep safe.
rogermoorepoet 
Roger,
Since sound is more important than sense to me in poetry, I admit all sounds, even ones I don’t fully translate into words per se. Poetry is firstly sound. Secondly, and less importantly sense. Of course both are nice to receive.
I prefer this poem on the page. I think this is so because I receive it at my own pace which is faster than the audio-pace given to me. Interesting, that?
The salt water universe is most remarkable. Perhaps this is so (for me) in that water and light coincide, replenish, value, and redeem.
Now if I can manage to send this I will. I hate machinery.
H.B.
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Interesting thoughts, HB. Pace is so important, pace and delivery. I try to vary mine in my readings, but I find the video pace very different from the delivery pace I would use before a live audience. I am learning to adjust. But it’s a slow process. Thank you for commenting! And congrats on the tecky work!
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Excellent poem and information. I often use archaic English and foreign languages. They add a je ne sais quoi to my work to my mind. 😊
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Very true. I find that there are things I can say in other languages that I have noway of saying in English. It’s also a form of intertextuality that forges strong links with other cultures.
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So true. I’ve found that too. Although English has a large vocabulary sometimes it lets one down. Rendering notions such as ennui or angst eludes English. And as you say intertextuality forges strong links with speakers of other lamguages.
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Excellent exmples: ennui, angst, hiraeth (Welsh), morina (Spanish: needs a ~ … they never quite translate, nor does the Spanish concept of forastero.
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Yes indeed. Hence the need to use them in English language verse. 😊
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