History

History sounds – billions of muffled voices, vying to be heard. The loudest ones rise to the top, while others are doomed to silence. But even among those heard and remembered, We will never truly know them. We may gather their notes and letters, Dig up their dusty bones, Resurrect their hopes and fears, Rebuild their childhood homes, Learn of their loves and failures; But this past we piece together, Like a giant jigsaw puzzle, Will never be complete, For the person will always elude us. We will never see the world as they did, Or feel the ebb and flow of their culture; Never carry the weight of their conscience, Or know the depths of their convictions. Though science brings us ever closer, It can never truly take us there, For the world once known to them can never speak; It must lie muted, still and dead, Haunting us with piecemeal truths, That can never again be made whole.