sitelen musi lili pi Langston Hughes

[Sasin]

kulupu Alen

wile wawa li kama ala lon la seme?
ona li sama ala sama ni: telo insa pi kili suwi lili li tawa weka tan seli suno?
ona li sama ala sama ni: selo jan pakala li kama jaki?
ona li sama ala sama ni: wan pi soweli moli li ike tawa nena lawa jan?
ona li sama ala sama ni: telo suwi li kama kiwen?
ona li sama ala sama ni: ijo suli li kama anpa?
seli wawa mute tan insa li pali e ike e pakala e moli anu seme?

jan Asuwa (Sasin) li pali e sitelen ni.
sina pona e sitelen mi anu seme?
pona!

[janKipo]

Well, I don't know the poem, so some of this is guesswork. And, of course, I son't do [poetry.
'Alem' (has to be 'Alen' to be tp) = Harlem? Is 'kulupu' specific "gang, crowd, assembly"? Is this the title?
"What if a strong desire does not start?" (not sure this is tpish, but ...)
"Is it like when the juice of a sweet fruit goes away? (specific fruit?)
"Is it like when an injured man decays"?
"Is it like when a piece of a dead animal is bad to a mountain?" ?????
"Is it like when honey hardens?"
"Is it like when a big thing come down?"
prob 'seli pi wawa mute, pi tan insa'
"Does a very hot fire from inside make evil and destruction and death?"
Aside from the problems apparent in the translation and one emendation, this is good, grammatically. (I don't do [poetry.)

(subscription much clearer.)

[Sasin]

[Sasin]

sitelen mi li ante pona.

[jan_Lope]

[janKipo]

Ah, prescriptivism! Of course, you can use 'sama' as a verb in an 'x ala x' question construction and, of course, it is still a preposition and so do not take 'e' ('sama 'e' means "to make equal/similar, to equate", not what you meant). So, that mistake does not occur. (Interestingly, Lope is quite willing to call whatever comes after a 'pi' a noun, but not to call whatever comes after a 'li' a verb.)
apparently 'ma tomo Alen'.

[Sasin]

[janKipo]

Nice interpretive touch. pona.