Today’s word is “polyglot” ... a person who speaks, writes, or reads a number of languages. (Dictionary.com)
Towering
He was up on the eightieth floor
looking over the countryside,
He watched all the other workers,
Climbing, stretching, pounding nails,
Carrying stones. Following instructions.
The tower was coming along beautifully;
they were in the clouds already.
But suddenly there was a rumbling,
shaking and screaming.
The men began to yell at each other,
“What’s happening?” Stones fell.
“Over here!” “Bring a bucket!”
“Where are the nails?”
“What? What are you saying?”
“I don’t understand.”
The workers began climbing down.
Once at the bottom confusion reigned.
There was no polyglot among them.
This was something new.
Finally, sadly, they began to walk away
from their more-than-human dream.
They would have ruled the sky.
They took their families and wandered off
in all directions,
Wondering what in the world they would do
with a life without the tower.
On their way, as they passed the site of
the calamity, each family picked up a few
bricks in case they had need of them later.
Anne Selleck
Copyright 2021
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