Villanelle on the Oldest Known Piece of Writing
by Jacqueline Osherow
There’s a real chance I have it wrong,
the oldest known language written down:
All the songs have already been sung
It sounds apocryphal, but so enticing:
Akkadian? Sumerian? On stone.
There’s a real chance I have it wrong.
Still, it would absolve my noiseless tongue
or at least offer some commiseration
if all the songs have already been sung.
Perhaps it’s why so many bells are rung:
every hour on the hour, a carillon
(I suppose there’s a chance I have it wrong)
helps the air articulate its longing
(The air is longing? I’m not alone? )
for all its songs, already sung.
But why, if I’ve known this all along,
do I keep waiting here, my heart wide open?
There’s a real chance I have it wrong.
All the songs have already been sung.
