Language Is The Rubicon Poem by gershon hepner

Language is the Rubicon
no animal has ever crossed,
and humans who are merely mon-
olingual far from home feel lost
unless they share a language such
as English, French, or German, Man-
darin, or German, even Dutch
or, more progressive, Esperan-
to, with the natives of the land,
connecting in a human way,
because they clearly understand
the words they share, such as 'Parlez-
vous anglais? ' which may help to link
an English person with a native
of a land where he can't think
vernacularly, not translative,
its tongue a Rubicon in which
he doesn't wish to wet his tongue,
since English speakers hate to switch
their language, on which they are hung.

It's thanks to use of words that we
are able to communicate,
providing the humanity
affirmed by tongues when we debate,
but even though we have the skill
to cross the Rubicon, no words
can help us climb the lowest hill,
and if we want to reach, like birds,
the sky, we'll find we don't belong
to those high regions, till we teach
ourselves to move from words to song,
in regions quite remote from speech,
requiring from us that we cross
a Rubicon within our hearts
when we for words are at a loss,
in regions not on maps or charts,
within a wordless world where man
finds wings like birds, and singing, soars
to regions speech most rarely can
attain, through poetry's worddoors.


Jennifer Schuessler writes an essay in the NYTBR,9/12/10 ('Trouble in the Monkey House') . She cites Jon Cohen, author of 'Almost Chimpanzee: Searching for What Makes Us Human, in Rainforests, Labs, Sanctuaries, and Zoos, ' who quotes the German philologist Friedrich Max Müller:

Language is our Rubicon, and no brute will dare to cross it.

9/16/10,3/23/12 #9674