Poem: "Beyond Babel"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the November 5, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by janetmiles. It also fills the "Angel" square in my 11-1-19 card for the People-watching Bingo fest.


"Beyond Babel"


In the beginning,
God made the world
not with a Word

but with math,
and out of math
came music, and
they were languages
all of their own.

When the sons of Adam
and daughters of Eve
spread over the Earth,
they spoke one language,
counted the beasts of the field
and sang praises to the Lord.

Then they raised a tower
toward Heaven, and
God was displeased.

When the Tower of Babel
fell, the languages of mankind
were confused, but math and music
remained as intelligible as ever.

For these were the languages
with which God had made the world,
and there was no taking them back out
of it ever again -- the math was in
the seeds of every sunflower and
the music in the tongue of every bell.

The angels wondered how long
it would take the humans to realize
they could still understand each other.

Comments

[erulisse]

some people know/remember. And the rest of us discover it or don't. It's like one of those open secrets. That thing that no one who knows tells you because they assume you know too.

[zeeth_kyrah]

I remember being taught as a spirit to sing material objects together from raw matter and energy, using a "musical monopole" as the working tool. That was when I learned what a monopole actually is, and how one can be constructed (the poles are facing the skin and the core, rather than an axis across the body, it's sort of a 4D object in that way -- and black holes can be monopoles).

[janetmiles]

This is most excellent. I'm reminded of a Cat Faber (I think) song, but can't think of the title just now. When I do, I'll post it.

[meridian_rose]

For someone who loves science this is amazing and is how scientists can understand the world.
For someone like me who eyes maths with vague distaste and loves language, not so much!
The music part reminds me of Bollywood and the music that can be loved by a speaker of any dialect.
I've often wondered if those who like to recount the tale of Babel are against learning other languages.
Also the rise in use of emojis, a return to pictorical forms of communication and things like youtube videos showing how to do something, transcend language barriers which is interesting to think about.

This is lovely! =D

[iamnotgod]

But what does it imply for the species (somewhere, out there) that can't perceive math, or music?