"I've just decided that I'm a translator!"

Reflection on the concept of Translation

Word to word

phrase to phrase

voice to voice

Meaning stays constant

words change

new sounds

to convey

the same ideas.

This is translation.

And yet.

And yet-

there is more.

Translation from

technical-speak

(gibberish to those of us not in the know)

to lay words.

And the translation of ideas to speech as well.

The words of others

that hold greater meaning

than the words themselves imply-

I am a translator,

despite being monolingual.

I am a translator.

I translate the looks

and smiles

and tones

of others

into their meaning.

I translate conversations

and looks

and events

into stories,

disregarding the things that don't fit,

so my life can make some sort of sense.

The way the ancients

looked up at the vastness of the stars

and created pictures out of the chaos.

A translation of stars into stories.