Another Language
We speak another language
Time has made it smooth
As the river makes the stone smooth.
It is a language teeming with light
But the light pales
The words become wooden
When spoken in translation
Because the river will flow
In one bed only
The light will teem
Only in droplets
From a single source.
We speak another language
And when we do
Skylarks fly off the tongue
The sounds are purple berries
‘Abhainn’ ‘solas’ – ‘River’ ‘light’
The words tell us things
As words will
But in their meaning
There is a journey
To a continent rich in harbourage
And when we sing
The boats race homeward
On a quick tide.
DJ 2006
Listen to Beverly Evans read Another Language below. (Recording from the album Yscolan by Ceri Rhys Matthew.)