Translation of 'JSL' by R
Williams-Parry
From your heights you came down to
the grain on the floor
Blinding with your light all the
chicks and the chicklings;
Creating above your head in the
dovecot doors
The twitter and flutter one
expects among pigeons.
O idios -
O forsaken fool; fie for the shame
Of a great, unloved bird winging
its lonely way;
Hatched in a different field's
corner not the same
God as ours rules over - shaped
from a different clay.
As for us, we drink wisdom with
cups of tea
And learned talk in the afternoon
peace together;
We've an ear for the classics and
a sense of place and can't see
That parish pumps or prisoners'
cells could endeavour
To intrude on our taking of toast
in grave squares
Of a sick academy.
Relish your prisoner's fare.
