What happens when...

Someone asked me recently what happens inside of me when I work on written translations. I share here my response.



Murmurations on the Page

When I read through the original

for the first time, it begins.
A glorious murmuration of
language alive,  alive
with flight and pitch,
tone, resonance, and meaning.

If I let go just enough, I

can feel the movements,

feel the life being spun.

And I begin to listen through
the shape emerging;
sorting the sounds and meanings I hear.

I write and listen and wait

up until and through
the last sound that is missing,
the note which makes the new breathe alone.
I wait until ah…
the harmony, the awe, of two flocks of words.

Kimberly M. King, rscj