Liam Connors

When our distant fathers inscribed images on brittle stone

When the first man put his brawny hand to mouth, miming hunger

When the vocal chord first stirred with the hum of spoken word

Did they know that these would be the tools of the oppressor?

When cities grew from dirt and the masses could be heard

When apprentices could learn from dictations of the builder

When first a word was traced on the pith of a papyrus

Did they know that these would be the tools of the oppressor?

When Homer called upon the muse

In Greek

When Adam’s story first was told

In Hebrew

And later, Jesus, too

In Aramaic

When Confucius sought the answers

In Chinese

And Rumi saw without his eyes

In Persian

When Dante walked the underworld

In Italian

Did they know that they were spurning the oppressor?

For in that language of Germanic tribes

Who overthrew the Celts

Who Anglicized the isles

Who were conquered by the Norman

Who used the words of greater men and governed by their scripture

Then took the land of other worlds and called themselves their saviors,

He would outlaw the tongue, bid his people hate through language.

The language of their ancestors. 

The language of their Gods. 

The languages that built their land.

The languages of their home. 

The languages they could not place when they were but a child.

The language once of all men, now of none.