At the risk of unveiling a rough draft, here's the first run at a poem I've been working on to get at the usefulness but inadequacies of translation.
Frank criticism welcomed! (Talking to you Joshua )
A translation makes us
Believe we can
Comprehend a language
Distant in time,
Evocative, nuanced,
Foreign, strange, new.
Giving us words to read
Holds before us
Imperfect reflections.
Just consider,
Kings and peasants would speak
Living Latin.
Melodic Greeks sang, but,
Now, we must trust
One translator's choices.
Pursue connotations!
Question their decisions!
Read carefully!
Sense something deeper and.
Treasures await!
Uncover mosaics,
Varied colors
Waiting discovery like
Xenos: stranger.
Yet also visitor.
Zeroing in
Yields riches unforseen.
Xenos: serve guests
With hospitality.
Vow to dig in!
Upset preconceptions,
Tempted to start
Seeing complexities.
Read beneath lines,
Questioning the choices
Presented there.
One word fixed on the page
Now expanding its sense
Makes you appreciate
Language becoming yours.
Keep comparing translations,
Juxtapose and compare.
Increasing understanding.
Hold decisions in check.
Good enough is not sufficient.
Flowing words fill us
Evoking
Delight,
Comprehend
Beyond
A translation.