Journal 2007[1]. Coverpage


 

47 

MANY LANGUAGES: ONE TONGUE 
 
 

Alfonso C. Hernandez 
 

In Chinese pain is pain in English 
Both new born cry the exactly same cry 
In either tongue 
When torn out from their mother 
The horror of this Earth appears in either language 
In England and in China new born souls would prefer 
To return to the Cosmos whence they came from. 
 
Love is in Swahili as in French is Love 
Both hearts always beat 
At the exactly same rhythm 
The same measure of blood 
Bursts out from either heart 
Equal, the horror of the Absence 
When the loved ones just die 
In Black Africa and in France 
The Essence of Love is equal in aroma. 
 
Singing in Nahuatl is in Italian Singing 
Lyrics signify the exact longing nostalgia 
The glorious past forgone 
But still pure landscapes 
Both hearts keep on bleeding 
The present in the instantaneous Void 
And the bacchanalia Void in the future 
The melody, the harmony and the lyrics 
In Italy and in Mexico 
Burst out from the exactly same fountain 
And the depths of the source 
Are as crystalline in each language. 
 
In Japan, metaphors are ceremonies 
As ceremonies metaphors in Araby 
Marriage, Family, Work: three themes 
In either tongue ring one single bell 
In Arabic “I do” rings exactly the same Temple bells 
As “I do” reverberates in Minarets in Japanese 
On these lands, Fate has absolutely no power 
In the care and the rearing of children 
Valued more than the pearls from the Sea of Japan 
Valued more than the Black Gold from the Sands of the Desert 



 

48 

And the exactly same sweat is now raining out 
From the labor in factories and the work in oil fields. 
 
In Hindi, Death has exactly the same meaning 
As the meaning of Death in Spanish 
In Mexico and in India both scythes cut just as sharp 
Death is a liberation from misery and cast 
A return to the immaterial Void 
The maternal, the ethereal Cosmic Light 
Where Love, Harmony and Spirit 
Emanate from the exact same Center and Mass. 
 
All the languages of the world 
Speak in only one soul 
Russian, Urdu, German, Wolof 
So many, many languages 
To name one single emotion 
The magic of Poetry and Prayer 
In exactly the same wavelength 
Love, Agony, Pain and Joy 
All our enduring struggles for perfection 
Clamors resounding in the waves of the wind 
From the Sea to the Sun and Beyond 
Like the Wheel of our Fortune 
Like the pull of the moon on the ocean 
Our inalterable seesaw of existence 
From our Earth to the Galaxies 
To begin once again and Again 
Our endless Karmic, Cosmic Cycle. 

 
_____ 
 
Alfonso C. Hernandez is a teacher of French in the Porterville School District, Tulare County. 
Email:  alfonsochernandez@hotmail.com