<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-variant-caps: inherit; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Helvetica;">The Words Collide</span><font face="Helvetica"><span class="dcr-d66r6p" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><div><br></div></span></font><p class="dcr-hw2voq" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word; --source-text-decoration-thickness: 2px; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><font face="Helvetica">The scribe objects. You can’t put it like that,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">I can’t write that. But the client<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">is a tough small woman forty years old.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">She insists. She needs her letter<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">to open out full of pleated revolving silk<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">and the soft lobes of her ears<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">where she flaunts those thin silver wires.</font></p><div id="sign-in-gate" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><font face="Helvetica"><gu-island name="SignInGateSelector" props="{"format":{"display":0,"theme":3,"design":0},"contentType":"Article","sectionName":"books","tags":[{"id":"books/series/poemoftheweek","type":"Series","title":"Carol Rumens's poem of the week"},{"id":"culture/culture","type":"Keyword","title":"Culture"},{"id":"books/books","type":"Keyword","title":"Books"},{"id":"books/poetry","type":"Keyword","title":"Poetry"},{"id":"type/article","type":"Type","title":"Article"},{"id":"tone/blog","type":"Tone","title":"Blogposts"},{"id":"profile/carolrumens","type":"Contributor","title":"Carol Rumens","bylineImageUrl":"https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/artsblog/authorpics/carol_rumens.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=e2e099425d552d2e33e5ce15014a200b"}],"isPaidContent":false,"isPreview":false,"host":"https://www.theguardian.com","pageId":"books/booksblog/2015/sep/28/poem-of-the-week-the-words-collide-eilean-ni-chuilleanain","idUrl":"https://profile.theguardian.com"}" clientonly="true" data-gu-ready="true" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></gu-island></font></div><p class="dcr-hw2voq" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word; --source-text-decoration-thickness: 2px; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><font face="Helvetica">She wants to tell her dream to the only one<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">who will get the drift. How she saw their children lying<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">every one dressed out in their simplest fears. They glowed,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">the shape of their sentence outlined in sea green.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Among those beloved exiles<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">one sighed happy, as a curtain<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">lightened and the grammar changed, and the wall<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">showed pure white in the shape of a bird’s wing.</font></p><p class="dcr-hw2voq" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5; vertical-align: baseline; word-break: break-word; --source-text-decoration-thickness: 2px; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial;"><font face="Helvetica">But when she whispered it to the scribe he frowned<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">and she saw she had got it wrong, she had come<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">to a place where they all spoke the one language:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">it rose up before her like a quay wall<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">draped in sable weeds. He said,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">You can’t put those words into your letter.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">It will weigh too heavy, it will cost too much,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">it will break the strap of the postman’s bag,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">it will crack his collarbone. The bridges<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">are all so bad now, with that weight to shift<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">he’s bound to stumble. He’ll never make it alive.</font></p><div><font face="Helvetica"><br></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin</font></div></div></div></body></html>