bloodyrosemccoy | Another Fascinating Look Into Amelia's Spare Time

When I’m bored, I do the darndest things.

Like translating the “Ballad of Serenity,” written by and probably copyright Joss Whedon and performed by Sonny Rhodes, into my conlang, Rredrra:

She Hereln Mezhserenıti

Borva tan ke dıgrre,

Borva she gulyado ñe,

Lye ıskash, tapi terrzho

Sŕlash borvaf she vyutsi lye.

Borva ka she ashurre,

Niryi bil tswel ka meipte

Doro rrorrun, lidho suyub

Sŕlash borvaf she vyutsi lye.

Lye ka sŕlash gen mezhpashe

Arra ki rrodizos tsemovne

Sŕlash borvaf she vyutsi lye …

As I had to work to make the syllables even fit in some semblance of accuracy, the words got a little skewed. Here is what the Rredrra version says:

Take from me essentials

Take all the world,

I don’t worry, I’m still free

You can’t take the sky.

Take me to the emptiness

Tell them that I am lost

Burn the land, boil the sea

You can’t take the sky.

I can’t be any place

Since I found serenity

You can’t take the sky …

Original lyrics for the song (which I like better) as well as a download of it, are available on the Firefly Wiki. It’s a very pretty and poetic, if short, song that has a guitar, horse, and spaceship noises at the same time. If you listen, you may notice that I had to fudge a few syllables, and that the rhyme scheme is different.* And even with that, it’s not a direct translation. But it was fun.

*Actually, if you bother to pay that much attention, I would frankly be astounded.