Murut ja gurut

Miten
se sattuukaan
että köyhille aina
murut ja gurut
lankeavat.
© Yelling Rosa
15/3 -16

The words “murut” and “gurut” rhyme perfectly in Finnish but I didn't find such a pair in English and ended to use word by word translation. The English version is plain when comparing it to the Finnish version where are many multi-meanings.

How does it always
Happen that crumbs and gurus
Fall down to the poor.
© Yelling Rosa
27/7 -16

”Miten se sattuukaan” can mean”how does it happen” or ”how does it hurt”. The “langeta” (lankeavat) verb has many meanings. It can mean that someone falls down, but also “to stray from the right path”. The latter meaning makes the poor people even more scornful, it is right to get some benefit from them while telling the sweets of heaven, or otherwise light future. From the point of view of the poor those gurus really fall on them. The crumbs fall accidentally. It’s something that annoys droppers and humiliates receivers. And still the meanings can be totally something else. That's the magic of the words, when you are allowed to use your mother tongue.

The word “köyhä” has pretty much the same meanings as the word “poor” has. It's more than the opposite of wealthy. It fits with today's economical dogmas which take the poverty as self-made result of the poor people. They are lazy or otherwise lousy. “Are they real that bad”? Is one thing that my verse also asks?

In Tornio, 27/7 –16
Yelling Rosa