The Language-Thought Paradox

Language is a paradox

No Merriams or Websters in all the Oxfords of the world can cement its identity

No amount of furor scribendi can contain it

By the time the Yeets and the Selfies can be added, Language has already moved on

If someone were to “drop you a note”, one might not even catch the hint

Perhaps the change arises from creativity

But what colorful naivety that assumption brings, for most change comes from utter laziness

Thought, on the other hand, could perchance be safe from the scourge of time?

But rather Thought is its own demise, for by thinking, Thought is what deteriorates

Language is Thought, or rather lack thereof, for to express is to destroy the need to think

Perhaps one day one will win out over the other

But Language breathes too heavily, and Thought’s heart beats too strongly

The two entangle in a web of senses; coarse, yet smooth; blinding, but eye-opening; acrid, yet refreshing; bitter, but tantalizingly sweet; Loud, and still hushedly soft.

Even names, all the Williams, Wills and Bills, become twisted and interchanged

For Thought is not its own demise, rather Language is the end of both

The hard truth of Thought is that there is no truth, only fantasy

Thought is a haze, a gloom thick as the stench of cigarette smoke, obscuring all logic and reason

Language, likewise, is as concrete as the tick of time, seemingly constant, yet more abstract than one might think

They come alive together and crawl into every crack and fissure in our lives

But Thought will be the end of Language, and Language Thought’s demise, and together they will reap for all of time.