An Ode To Language

I love words

I’ve always found them fascinating

Like we make these random sounds and put them together and give them meaning

We give them rules to follow and make some exceptions

Then,

We put these random meaningful combinations of sound together,

And make sentences

We give these even more rules

And make fewer exceptions

These sentences make paragraphs 

And paragraphs make all sorts of things

Essays, Speeches, Text Messages, Emails, 

Love Letters, Promises, Vows

And we break the rules 

We make poetry, songs, 

Statements

Words are so powerful

They are a form of expression

We express what we want,

What we don’t want

We express our discontent with the political climate

Through conversation, through protests and rallies

We express our emotions

Our excitement

Our passion

Our sorrow

Our condolences 

And we express these things to each other

Honestly,  I think humankind takes words for granted

Language is a privilege 

There are people who can’t talk

Censorship is real

There are people out there who cannot speak

And we don’t seem to care

We say words we don’t really mean

We make promises we can’t keep

We throw words around as if there are no consequences

As if words can’t cut deeper than a knife

As if words don’t win people their rights

As if words don’t keep us up at night

Thinking about all of the terms said in their life

So think before you speak

Because we owe it to words

We have used and abused language

For far too long