Titled

 

“I. Favour, benevolence

“1. Theol.

 

“c. As a quality possessed by human beings: benevolent divine influence regarded as an enduring force in the individual human, having its seat in the soul…

 

“1919      Catholic World Jan. 433  A secret Life of prayer and mortification possible only to a soul full of grace.”¹

 

 

     Your name has no meaning.

     Mine is to honour God,

     though I've done little of that.

     Yours is either pearl,

     or maybe earth

     (or is it virgin land?)

     or favour or benevolence,

     or sour grapes from

     the base of the vine,

     or some arrangement of letters

     that sound good together

     in another language.

 

          (And they do).

 

     In English it says Zašto,

     but I don’t know Serbian

     and neither do you. Not really.

     I learned only German,

     perfunctorily for three years.

     I remember how to swear hello

     and to curse goodbye and

     describe Die Katze and Der Hund

     (or is it der Katze und die Hund)

     as Schwarz or Weiß

     Groß or Klein.

 

          (You know the same in Serbian).

 

     I think I recall you explaining

     where your name is from

     in some funny anecdote:

          It sounds like this, but means that

          and once…

               …something…

 

     At that time I didn’t pay attention

     and I missed the train of thought

     and watched it from the platform after,

     trying to reconnect the dots:

          so many umlauts 

          and diaereses

          and cedillas.

 

     Your name has no meaning,

     and unlike mine

 

          (a Greek concoction)

 

     yours must be some arrangement 

     of letters from an alphabet

     jumbled up in ancient times

     that somehow still sounds fine.

 

          (And it does)

 

 

¹Oxford English Dictionary

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