Language ~by Emir Sahin

Every word tells a story

A story that lives within me.

Every sound carries a breath

The breaths of those who came before me.

So many hopes, so many dreams

Float through my consciousness’ streams

As I ponder then pause then ponder again

And pick the proper words to pen.

For language is not a mere jumble of letters and sounds

It is where civilization and life itself abounds.

It is a crime to copy another writer’s words

The word for that crime is plagiarism, or so I’ve heard.

So would it be a crime too, then, if I lost my mother tongue

And depended on another to fill my thoughts and lungs?

Surely the history, the memories would feel betrayed

If I lost sight of their value and let them fade

For my identity and my language are one and the same

And if I forgot the latter then I’d forget the meaning of my own name.