Saturday Rave: Ho mia kor! by L L Zamenhof

Ho mia kor! was written in 1887. It's one of the very first poems in the Esperanto language.

Esperanto was a brave attempt to invent a language that people of many nations would find familiar, and therefore easy to learn and use.

Read this short poem, and see if it works for you.

Ho mia kor', ne batu maltrankvile,
El mia brusto nun ne saltu for!
Jam teni min ne povas mi facile,
Ho, mia kor'!

Ho, mia kor'! Post longa laborado
Ĉu mi ne venkos en decida hor'?
Sufice! trankviliĝu de l' betado,
Ho, mia kor'!    

Did you understand it? Any of it? I thought I probably understood quite a lot, but then I've been delving into languages all my life - and, of course, probably understanding something is not much  good at all. Ĉu mi ne venkos en decida hor? was plainly about deciding something, but I thought it was something to do with wind (venkos). But it isn't. 

Here's a literal translation for you to see how you did.

Oh, my heart, don't beat untranquilly
Out of my breast! Don't now jump!
Already I cannot easily hold myself
Oh, my heart!

Oh, my heart! After long labouring
Will I not win in the deciding hour?
Enough! Calm the beating.
Oh, my heart!

Esperanto was, I think, worth a try, if only to discover that the easiest way for us all to speak the same language is for one extant language to take over.

At least, it makes it easy for some of us.

Word To Use Today: one not in Esperanto! Dr Esperanto was the pseudonym of L L Zamenhof, who invented the language in the late 1800s. Esperanto means 'one who hopes'. 

Bless him!