11kelua
Every morning
The last two aspects. pa marks a doing at its beginning (the first moment of it), and ro marks a doing that happens as a habit, the way a household breathes. Together they hold a morning: things starting, and things that start every day.
SceneI
kelua shua.sileta pa rihe.lo pelori pa meliho.womu maeli nai.
| new word | say it | it means |
|---|---|---|
| kelua | ke · lu · a | morning |
| pa | pa | (before the verb: it begins) |
| maeli | ma · e · li | quiet |
Morning comes; the sun begins to rise; the birds begin to sing; the house is quiet. pa catches things at their edge: not risen, rising; the first note, not the song.
SceneII
wheo ro rihe.wheo mua thepalu ro whunei.phao ro rihe. phao nuora ro pharelo.lopia ro nulae.lohau ro shua.misheko ro nulae.
| new word | say it | it means |
|---|---|---|
| ro | ro | (before the verb: as a habit, across occasions) |
| whunei | whu · ne · i | breathe |
Every morning the elder rises and breathes in the garden; every morning the parent cooks; every morning the child goes on sleeping and the dog turns up anyway. The last line gives an old observation its grammar: the cat sleeps habitually. That habit need not hold at every moment. The household has been collecting evidence since chapter one, most of it curled up somewhere inconvenient.
SceneIII
lopia rihe.lo miona pa nuola.sileta keru pa loa.philo pa shua.One new word early: philo, day. The day begins to arrive. Chapter twelve will make much of it.
Breakfast begins; the light begins; the day begins. Three beginnings, one particle, and the household is underway.
SceneIV
wheo maeli whunei.lopia maeli whunei.thia whunei.
Look at maeli standing before the verbs: a describing word placed before a doing describes the doing; quietly breathing, the way thiku pelori was a small bird. And then the last line, which is not about the household at all. It is about you. Take it as the book's first request: one breath, at reading pace, before you go on.