After All

After all and after all When the song is sung And swallowed up in silence It were more real unsung....

After all and after all When the lips have stirred Such a little of the thought Is transmuted in the word....

Suffer not my ears with hearing Suffer not your thoughts with speech. Let us feel into our meaning And thus know the all of each.

Donald Jeffrey Hayes

Mood:: Contemplative
Topics:: silence, song, speech, understanding

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Summary

In these lines, the speaker is wondering whether words ever truly capture what we mean. Once a song is sung, it disappears into silence, and maybe it was more real before it was voiced. In the same way, when people speak, only a small part of their thought actually makes it into language.

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What is this poem about?

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