Confinement
Language enables and ensnares.
Even mathematics, for all its assumed
purity and fidelity to the underlying
structure of the cosmos,
would be indecipherable
written in a truly alien hand,
the numbers not Arabic or Roman,
the symbols a complete mystery.
Even music relies on what
you know as music
for its power to enthrall.
Our grammars support our hearing
of one another but obscure the truth
we aren't prepared to understand.
Our words are lovely things
that nonetheless imprison us.
Even mathematics, for all its assumed
purity and fidelity to the underlying
structure of the cosmos,
would be indecipherable
written in a truly alien hand,
the numbers not Arabic or Roman,
the symbols a complete mystery.
Even music relies on what
you know as music
for its power to enthrall.
Our grammars support our hearing
of one another but obscure the truth
we aren't prepared to understand.
Our words are lovely things
that nonetheless imprison us.
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Author's Note
The gifts and barriers of languages
Other stories by Gary Hardaway
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This one has my mind working...
Thank you, Matt.
A lot to like there.
"Our grammars support our hearing // of one another but obscure the truth / we aren't prepared to understand."
*
"Our words are lovely things
that nonetheless imprison us."
Enjoyed. Made me think. Still does.
Thank you, Bill.
Thank you, Erika.
Good poem. Gary. Our words do imprison us. Yes.
Thank you, Sam.
Love the last two lines! *
Thank you, Beate.
"Our words are lovely things
that nonetheless imprison us."
Makes you think. Makes you smile. Makes you want to be more.
A lot to think about!
Thank you, Darryl.
Thank you, Kitty.
*, Gary. Excellent verse with a well-appreciated, terrific close.
Thank you, David.