Learning from Words

[PrinceMyshkin]

Language
is bred in our bones
and musculature, in our skin.
.
It is the smudge on our fingers
after a hard day’s work,
the cheek that is laid so softly
on a child’s or a lover’s cheek
that they barely touch.

It is the air that circulates
in our leathery lungs
as we inhale hope
and exhale longing... Language
is the way we create ourselves.

We were born speechless
and, without speech, knew only
need or fear. Words
gave us everything
and we can but try
to give them everything in return. .

[qimissung]

How valiant you paint we humans, Prince, what heart you give our struggle to give words to the writhing miasma of our feelings, hopes, desires, longings...

[AuntShecky]

This is quite profound, even though some "scientific" linguists and philologists believe that language evolved as a practical rather than a philsophical feature of human development. Also, noting the behavior of infants (one in particular, recently) I agree with you wholeheartedly that language develops from "need." Fear, though, I think, like prejudice (bad) and civility (good) is not something we're born with -- it's something that is learned.

[Pendragon]

Absolutely one of your finest works, my friend