A friend of mine asked me to define beauty.
I said
[repeated around the world]
Imagine a world…
Imagine que um mundo…
Aza ardhi…
Imaginez qu'un monde…
Where everyone could simply BE.
Onde todos poderia simplesmente ESTAR.
Po wote diriki mfuto IKO.
Où chacun pourrait simplement ETRE.
Where you weren't judged based on your
Onde você não foi julgado baseado em sua:
Po wee ni kamwe amuliwa kianzio fi zako:
Où vous n'avez pas été jugé basé sur:
racegenderbeliefssexualitydifferences
raçagenderopiniãosexodiferenças
taifajinsiaherimuimanijameihalafa
votrecoursegenrecroyancesexedifférences
Where war, rape, injustice, and discrimination were words students had to look up in a dictionary for history class.
Onde a guerra, a violação, o injustice, e a discriminação se realizavam estudantes das palavras tiveram que olhar acima em um dicionário para a classe do history
Po kondo, fisidi, afa, aidha ubaguzi ni kala mwanachuo dhiki katika angalia juu bi kamusi kwa historia aima.
Où la guerre, le viol, l'injustice, et la discrimination avaient lieu étudiants de mots ont dû rechercher dans un dictionnaire pour la classe d'histoire.
And…
E
Aidha
Et
Respect
Respeito
Heshima
Le respect
(the word poured out of my mouth like a waterfall)
(a palavra derramada fora de minha boca como uma cachoeira)
(kala kupua a angu kanwa kama maporomoko ya maji)
(le mot versé hors de ma bouche comme une chute d'eau)
Respect was something understood in any language.
Respeito eram algo compreendida em toda a lingual
Heshima ni kitu atikali bi o-ote lesani
le respect étaient quelque chose comprise en n'importe quelle langue
Now wouldn't that be beautiful?
Author notes
wow was that a lot of work! heh heh.....the four languages are english, portugese. swahili, and french. I had to look the swahili up word by word so it is probably really butchered. but I think it was worth it, I hope others do too!
Written December 16th, 2004
A contest entry
- All At Once [Contest] by Anulka.
350 points, ended December 30, 2004, 12 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 22 of 22
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What a wonderful concept, both from the words in your work as well as the multi-lingual translations.
Congratulations on your trophy!
P.S. I read the French version and I think your grammer is pretty good (from what I remember of my French grammer!)
mystic voice
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don't we all wish this? read that sabishii (sp?) poem of yours and thought I would check this one out too. you write well!
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BEAUTIFUL AN D HEARTFELT POEM
CONGRATULATIONS, this was a wonderful poem and deserved to be one of the winners. I really enjoyed reading this. Thank you so much for sharing. Take care, Sandy
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congratulations on your trophy!...the poem is brilliant...nice work!...leanne xxx
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This was a great and extremely creative write . I can see you’ve put a lot of work into it. Respect just happens to be one of my favorite things.
Thanks for sharing.
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Magnifique.
Vraiment. Vous avez droit. La paix doit venir quequefois, mais je crains que ce quelquefois tardera beaucoup trop long.
This is a great write, even if I couldn't read the other two languages.
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EXCELLENT!
WOW! This was awesome. So many times I've thought to portray a person speaking being heard everywhere at once. Bravo for this piece that explores a true message to be heard around the world.
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i like this piece alot. i actually speak swahili and you'll be pleased to know that you did the language justice
well done. great work
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Great Job I am so with you on that one if only everyone believed those things Nikki
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I really like the multi-language thing. Very nice. Uhm. It's a good...direct important message?
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i believe that this would make the perfect world. i'm glad you wrote this, it's an inspiring piece and i hope somone who needs inspiration of this sort will read this. so many times i've tried to word my feelings into something like this, but i never could. you did a fantastic and beautiful job. i'm glad i'm not the only one
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love it. it is wonderful.
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Wow this was amazin and yes it would be beautiful! This has such a strong message to it that I agree with this was written so beautifully nice job keep it up!
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ah, if only.... tres bien mon ami. I like the idea of the different languages. Surely such a universal piece (peace)written with different languages would have some venue for publication (although I'd be sure to get a proper swahili translation done first!).
"Where war, rape, injustice, and discrimination were words students had to look up in a dictionary for history class."
Wouldn't that be amazing!
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A really nice idea with the languages and a good point at the end.
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I like the way you styled the poem (like, how it fits the page). I also like the way you used the foreign languages. Unique.
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Very Good
Wow! That was different! I love the way you wrapped the different languages into it. Makes it global. A very worthwhile read. Thank you very much for sharing. -
Excellent
Imagine the damage done by the tower of Babel and language was lost forever. Excellent piece, of very good note. very worthy of applause.
Georges. -
hmmmm..
this does have one thinking abit!
and frankly I like pieces that make my brian stretch abit!
Keep making me think!
Keep penning on one stroke at a time!
Bill -
thanks for catching the french mistake, do you think it is better to read now....I did bold and italics...and thanks for you nice comment!
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WelshMafia
Wow! I am in awe! Respect is truly beautiful and so is Truth. I applaude your outstanding efforts. It's beautiful in any language. Awesome Job!
MM
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Wonderful.
Only one error I noticed in the French. "Imaginez que un monde…" The que and un should be merged together into "qu'un". Other than that, it looks very good. It was a little hard to follow though, finding the english lines. Maybe to make it a bit more comprehensive, you could make the lines in English bold, or a different color, just to make them stand out. The different language idea was nice, though, it added a lot of extra flavor and helped portray a nice theme. Great write!
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