Poem: "A Civil Tongue"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem was inspired and sponsored by marina_bonomi.

A Civil Tongue

When the world was young,
We rode roughshod over rivers and plains.
We planted our hooves on the mountain peaks
And laughed in the face of death.
We were free men, then,
Innocent of cities and civilizations.

Now our language has grown old.
It has taken the wheels off its wagon.
It has sheathed its sun-bright sword.

These days, we speak like citizens
Who must learn to keep a civil tongue.
These days, it is harder to remember
The thrill of battle and the joy of journeying -
It is difficult to think of these things
In a language that has forgotten them.

Yet sometimes, in our dreams,
The old words clatter like hooves on stone
And once more our thoughts run with the wild horses.