Words

This poem considers the necessity of words and how their absence would affect humanity and the world around us.

They give us a way to express ourselves,

They train us to view things in certain ways,

They allow us to attach sentiment onto everything,

But are they necessary?

A song without words is still music,

A silent glance met with a smile is still communication,

A moment spent simply existing, breathing, dreaming holds limitless meaning,

All without words.

Nature flourishes without the use of diction,

Animals learn to love and trust by a kind touch, not verbalized commands

Yet we insist on assigning everything a title,

Categorizing, organizing, diluting anything and everything’s essence.

Now, instead of holding a pure identity,

Everything has connotations that muddle and contort its being.

Imagine a world of only feeling.

A pure world, where emotions are explicitly displayed

Without tricky sarcasm or unintended outcomes,

Derived by ambiguity.

I wouldn’t be a silent world, no, for music would dominate at last.

Songs, raw from the soul could finally be known for what they have been all along.

Feelings incarnated.

We would learn to read each other’s eyes.

So much could be said through closed lips,

An entire conversation could pass through the squeeze of a hand,

Literature would be expressed through images,

Art would dominate that realm.

Great poetry could be seen and interpreted through vivid colors and textures.

Our senses would grow stronger,

Our minds empowered,

Inhaling every detail of every thing,

Inferring the truth.

It would be an honest world

And a trustworthy one.

Finally, humans and animals would speak the same language.

They’d teach us their simple secrets to loving life

And to love itself. 

Author's Note

I write more prose than poetry, so please don't judge me too harshly.

Reviews

[Lydia Shutter]

Words, yes, they are necessary...absolutely positively! Without them, could you have written this piece of creative writing? Without them could you express specifics? Without them could people write love letters? Never doubt it, words are necessary....and yours provoked thought which is never a bad thing. Lydi**