If You Were Less Than Human | Teen Ink

If You Were Less Than Human MAG

By Anonymous

If you were less than human you would speak.
Were you the forceful river you’d not stop.
Though as you’re not, your drowning silence wreaks.
Were you a weeping willow planted deep
would not your teary leaves of winter drop?
If you were less than human you would speak.
For even yawning winds in morning creak
and rush to strike like hooves in gallop clop,
though as you’re not, your drowning silence wreaks.
And even as a weed beneath a creek
your words will burst in whispers at the top.
If you were less than human you would speak.
And as a single blade of grass you’d seek
your safety in the swaying of the crop,
though as you’re not, your drowning silence wreaks.
For then the rose in loss of beauty leaks
and crackles, wilting through your thorny chops.
If you were less than human you would speak,
though as you’re not, your drowning silence wreaks.




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This article has 2 comments.


i love this so much!

natalie said...
on Aug. 21 2008 at 6:04 am
"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood." -T.S. Eliot



Reading your poem reminded me of that quote. The words you chose, the beautifully choppy iambic pentameter, and mostly the repetition in this piece played on my heart before I even really listened to what the words were saying. Your use of hyperbaton was masterful, though slightly confusing at times - but I'm being picky. Excellent job! You have every right to be proud. :)