Cornelia reading ‘River Song’ in Maipa Village Language, Papua New Guinea
Be still little guardians
can you let me pass?
Let me swim in your river
or is it your looking glass?
Take the song of every river
you have heard in tunes.
Weave them all together,
make a ladder to the moon.
Oh, haven’t you heard
the new river songs,
telling you clearly to
make me belong?
Make your way to the stars
as you let me pass.
Let me swim in your river
become your looking glass.
(c) June Perkins (From Magic Fish Dreaming)
We shared this at the launch of Magic Fish Dreaming.
It would be special to have the whole book one day translated into my mother’s language and other languages like French because then Helene’s family and friends could read it in translation, although translating poetry can be very tricky.
Magic Fish Dreaming 
Reblogged this on Ripple Poetry and commented:
So special to have this poem read in my mother’s language.
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It would be great to have your poems translated into your mother’s language, and many languages to share with others. I’m not sure how well poems survive translation, but your thoughts and images are beautiful.
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Yes, poetry can be tricky to translate, especially metre, but often imagery can translate quite well, but not always.
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