The Hebrew Language
Karl Constantine FOLKES 1935 (Portland)
The Hebrew Language
It is a boustrophedon
Aleph as leader
Father of All that follows
Pointing to the Creator.
About this poem
Moving from right to left, like a bullock ploughing the soil, and then turning around to continue its labor, the Hebrew language is written as a boustrophedon, with every letter, every word requiring careful inquisitive introspection by the reader, with open invitation to meditate night and day, backwards and forwards, on what is written and what is being read. After having recently composed a poem entitled “Bereshit Unfolded,” a kind reader observed that in referring to the meaning of that poem, I had inadvertently omitted the aleph in the Hebrew spelling of the word bereshit (correctly written in Hebrew as בראשית), which I have since corrected and which, symbolically, is perhaps the most important letter of the Hebrew alphabet, pointing to our Creator Elohim as Creator Father, initiator and finisher of all, the Alpha and the Omega. This one-stanza five-line Tanka poem is composed as a parsimonious tribute to the divine beauty of the Hebrew language. more »
Written on July 19, 2022
Submitted by karlcfolkes on July 19, 2022
Modified by karlcfolkes on July 19, 2022
- 6 sec read
- 320 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 112 |
Words | 22 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 5 |
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"The Hebrew Language" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/132297/the-hebrew-language>.
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