[Verse]
How do you say that you’re sitting at a desk
When you’re writing at a desk not a table but a desk
And the lexicon lacks
How do you speak so people will listen
Convey colloquialism
Using instrumentalism
Match sound and syntax
In the service of voice, infinities of choice
And so

[Chorus]
I’ll try to write word for word
Get it exactly right
Free the living text from a dead language
Mimic word for word for word
Literal

[Verse]
How do you translate the original text
Into revisional text, rhythmic, well-phrased, tonal text
All while earning broad appeal
How do I express charactеrs’ status
Their sorrows, schooling, and class
With dialogue as bloody and juicy as
I think it ought to feel
Show its intelligеnce or its elegance / long, flowing periods or short, crisp phrases
And so
[Chorus]
I must write word for word
Duplicate the sense
I let the story lead me to its style
Echo word for word for word
Lyrical

[Bridge, unfinished]
But wait nothing corresponds, cuz it’s a different language, so go on
Vagaries, quirks, and peculiarities
Respect, appreciate communicate
Significant intentions and sonorities

[Chorus, unfinished]
I will write word by word
Stories hidden within the stories we think we know
And so
I will write word by word
Study, interpretation, and poetic leaps of faith
Translate ourselves word by word by word
Forwards