Weep with Jeremiah

Written languages convey both meanings and sounds. Each language has its own peculiar characteristics. Therefore, it is difficult to translate a piece of text from one language to another.
One of the difficulties has to do with meaning. Every word carries more than one meaning. Even for synonyms, each of them carries different shades of the same meaning. Moreover, the ways a particular word is used in a particular culture will evoke different feelings even among synonyms. Words are like clouds and no two clouds are identical. This difficulty happens within every language.
What is worst, many concepts, thus words, do not find their counterparts in another language. For example, there is only one word for "love" in Hebrew but at least three in Greek.
Another difficulty comes in the style of a language. For example, Hebrew has no comparatives. It expresses comparatives with repetitions or contrasts. Therefore, to say that you love one thing more, Hebrew says that you love one and hate the other!
Alas! Nobody is able to translate with 100% accuracy in meaning. Poetry is even more problematic.

Today, we read Lamentations 2. It is poetic. Prophet Jeremiah wrote Lamentations to express his grief over the destruction of Jerusalem.
There are 22 Hebrew alphabets and there are 22 verses in Lamentations 1, 2, 4 and 5. Guess what! Each verse begins with an alphabet in sequence. This kind of poems is called acoustic. There are 66 verses in Lamentations 3. Three verses form a stanza and begin with the same alphabet. To the best of my knowledge, no English translation is able to do this acrobatic trick. Chinese language has no alphabets and cannot be acoustic. So far, we have not touched upon the problem of sounds and rhythm. It is hopeless. That is why we need to learn Hebrew in order to appreciate Hebrew poetry.

In reading poetry, we try to grasp the imagery created. Alas! Images are culturally conditioned. For example, which animals are cunning, serpents, foxes or rabbits? How do you express sadness with tears? In Chinese, we "wash our face with tears". In Hebrew, "tears become our food all the days". So, it is difficult to convey an image with the same force.

We have been living in comfort and convenience for too long. We may no longer be able to feel what Jeremiah felt. Anyhow, reading Lamentations will enrich our hearts so that we will be better able to weep with those in despair.

My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city (Lamentations 2:11, RSV).
我的眼痛哭，至於失明，五內沸騰，肝腦塗地。眼見我的女兒—人民遭受摧殘，眼看著幼童乳兒昏厥在城中的街道上。

כָּלוּ בַדְּמָעוֹת עֵינַי, חֳמַרְמְרוּ מֵעַי--נִשְׁפַּךְ לָאָרֶץ כְּבֵדִי, עַל-שֶׁבֶר בַּת-עַמִּי: בֵּעָטֵף עוֹלֵל וְיוֹנֵק, בִּרְחֹבוֹת קִרְיָה

Dear Lord, we have not loved enough. We are not able to feel what others feel. Help us to love more. Amen.