Rubble of Babel

by Scarlet

Humanity’s first

bid at utopia failed 

in every which way.

We tried to build a

colossal tower, with its

summit in the sky.

The tower stood on

a uniform foundation,

placed in harmony,

but the stones that stood

at the peak ragged, rough

placed in avarice.

Fate had other plans.

The tower broke and fell apart,

and we did as well.

Friends built the tower,

but strangers emerged from what

bricks and rocks remained,

leaving each other,

speaking languages

they would never understand.

Some left for islands,

others to wetlands, steppes, all

under the same sky.

What they did not know

was that their utopia 

was never in the sky.

Instead, their utopia

came in the form of their wrecked,

imperfect rubble.

Rubble where strangers

could take the time with each other

teaching their new languages.

Rubble where acquaintances

could share their stories,

laughing, crying, and loving along.

Rubble where friends, reunited,

should have flourished, created,

and found a new path forward.

The same rubble we sit amongst today.

Rubble that we inherited from our ancestors,

the 

discordant, 

divided, 

     distant 

people they were.

But their mistakes don’t have to be ours,

so please, join me in the debris with everyone else,

bring foods from our islands, our wetlands, and our steppes,

dance through the pewter stones and smoky ash everywhere,

share your stories and create new ones as we laugh and cry and love,

planting cherry blossoms and lilies in a garden amongst the ash and rubble.

Scarlet is a first year who thought it would be cool to use her favorite color as a pseudonym. When not wondering if a computer science major is right for her, you can find her writing poems and enjoying life with friends.