Re: TRANS: Red Flowers

Sorry this is a bit passé, but I did want to translate the Red Flowers poem
into Skerre.  I must say that these translation exercises are one of my
favorite parts of the list, since they can provide life to your own
language(s) (this poem caused the creation of the verb 'suriat.'), and they
are also a good way to share our work among ourselves.
So here's the Skerre translation.  I wanted to keep the 7-6-6-7-5 form, but
I don't have enough faculty with my language in a poetry translation
situation to make it conform.

J¹ato i jen
U hok tehasa
U tita sisili i hok
cal ijisa îon
U tok suriat

IPA (reasonably close transcription)
(S=alveo-palatal fricative; T=interdental fricative):
jato i jen
u hok tehaSa
u tita SiSili ji hok
Tal ijisa aion
u tok suriat

Interlinear:
J¹     ato i   jen
LOC sea of life

U     hok tehasa
IMPF we swim

U     tita sisili  i     hok
IMPF be dreams  GEN us

cal  ijisa      îon
like flowers  red

U     tok     suriat
IMPF they pass.by

LOC=locative
GEN=genitive
IMPF=Imperfective


(original message)
All this recent talk of haikus has made me recall Kansú, my only "a priori"
language, which has a common poetic form called the cambró, which has five
lines and a syllanle count of 7-6-6-7-5 (from Kansetic cosmology: seven high
gods, six low gods, six elements, seven cities, five ages). I think it's
slightly like a haiku.
Here's an example:

Xaçólat sianú·no
Múzaiem niaz.
Naimó niaz·no,
Zai liyilá cemar-
Uyeçurenó.

In the sea of life,
We all swim.
Our dreams are
Like red flowers-
They keep passing by.

sea-LOC life·of
swim-HAB we-INC
dreams we·of
like flowers red-
pass-ITER-3P.

HAB=habitual
INC=inclusive
ITER=iterative
Pronunciation is almost exactly the same as in IPA, except that y=j, not ü,
and the accent represents high pitch, not stress.

Dan
----
Bengesko niamso.
Cursed German.
----
Dan Morrison (http://www.geocities.com/yl_ruil/index.html)