Poetry!

It's been a while since I last wrote a poem. I've been trying to write something for a while now, but nothing has been forthcoming. Well, as you know from my other entries, I'm reading Alexander Pope - and loving it! It has inspired me to try again - and this time I have something to show for it (a sonnet)!

An Allegory on Speech

Each one the image of his Language bears,
Which must by slow degrees be waked from Death:
The child must learn that speech begins with Breath,
As life itself, and ends with One who hears;

Then learn the sounds, in syllables arrayed,
Forgetting, too, the foreign sounds he knew.
Behold! He speaks! The syllables were true:
"Aga hateepoo" and "tagee dalate"!

Poor child! Vain sentences devoid of sense!
They have the form of words, yet not the power.
The Father coaxes gently, hour by hour,
Not lacking grace for childish innocence,

Until he learns the tongue of God for men,
And - full of meaning - whispers thus: "Amen."