THERE are no handles upon a language Whereby men take hold of it And mark it with signs for its remembrance. It is a river, this language, Once in a thousand years Breaking a new course Changing its way to the ocean. It is mountain effluvia Moving to valleys And from nation to nation Crossing borders and mixing. Languages die like rivers. Words wrapped round your tongue today And broken to shape of thought Between your teeth and lips speaking Now and today Shall be faded hieroglyphics Ten thousand years from now. Sing -- and singing -- remember Your song dies and changes And is not here to-morrow Any more than the wind Blowing ten thousand years ago. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH A REAL HARD TIME BEFORE' by HAYDEN CARRUTH LET ME NOT HATE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO GALLANT FRANCE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO GOD THE FATHER by KATHERINE MANSFIELD CELSUS AT HADRIAN'S VILLA by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: AMI GREEN by EDGAR LEE MASTERS MODERN PARAPHRASE OF SHAKESPEARE'S SONNET 29 by GEORGE SANTAYANA |