I am new to Ancient Greek, so my vocabulary
is necessarily limited.
But I can construct simple phrases:
I sacrifice to the goddess
and we hasten to the marketplace.
So far, this has been plenty.
Today, I learned passive voice and imperfect tense. Now
I can say the book is being written by the poet.
And she used to guard the tent.
I’m told Greek nouns and verbs recognize a third kind
of “number” called The Dual.
The Dual serves for pairs of things.
As I practice my translations,
I read first in Greek, then English.
Σπεύδουσι τῇ αγορᾷ
They hasten to the marketplace.
It occurs to me that Greek is a language riddled
with couples hastening to marketplaces
and to countrysides and into tents.
So, I rewrite my sentence,
the couple hastens to the marketplace.
What lovely markets those must be, but mindful of overcrowding.
I’ve heard it said, every letter is a love letter.
That every poem is a love poem to something.
I think, perhaps, the Greeks originated this idea.
Every sentence is an ode to the potential for two-ness.
The two of them go to the marketplace.
The two of them offer sacrifice and do not steal.
The two of them stand guard and continue to draw.
Soon I will know all about those two
in the marketplace, and the declarations
they must have occasion to make.
Perhaps one will say I sacrifice to the goddess of the countryside.
Perhaps the other will say the book is being written by me in the tent.
And each will understand the other’s meaning
in the language of eternal hastening.
I might say I used to hasten to the marketplace.
The poem was written by me.
For now, this should be plenty.
A harmless act of mimicry.