Languages – A Poem by Carl Sandburg

imageHere’s an interesting poem by Carl Sandburg called Languages with an mp3 recording….

MP3 of Languages
Languages

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.

Read by Carolina Caliaba

This article was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2012 at 6:09 pm and is filed under Carl Sandburg, English, Languages, Poems, Poetry, Poets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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