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The study of ancient civilizations across the globe has long been part of core history curriculums taught early on to help us develop an understanding of the societies and cultures that have shaped humanity as we know it today. But what will future archaeologists have to say about us thousands of years from now? Middlebury musician Joy Holzhammer, this week’s featured poet, muses about the decay of technology we falsely hope will preserve us, imploring us instead to make a written record of our world and ourselves.
Only words will last
By Joy Holzhammer, 15, of Middlebury
Rules of verse, prose and rhyme…
careful measures, line for line.
What will withstand the trial of time
and fires of our sorrow?
Cloth will rip and buildings fall.
Yesteryears’ machines are no use to us all.
But a phrase scribbled hastily on the wall
will still be there tomorrow,
in the stories and songs of all we achieved,
of the things we discovered – and had to leave.
There’s no telling what we will be asked to believe
when the future requires a past.
And what will remain when we’re finally gone?
Take note of the times you’ve been right and wrong.
Write down your stories, your thoughts and your songs,
for only words will last.
