Birth of it all

The simplest of words
           yes and no
and their first articulation
           who first thought
who first uttered
           and where
on which African plain
           who saw a flowing stream
and called it river
           and shared the sound
with another with others
           shaped between tongue
and teeth all manner
           of expressions

a world carried
           in the head
and voiced at will
           the mapping of all things
mobile and fixed
           and who felt that love
and sadness
           were things too
palpable as stone
           present in the light
and in the darkness
           and how speech
flourished
           a field of a thousand
flowers
           and incorporated
all that the senses
           could apprehend
language that gave
           birth to the earth

John Lyons