The Rosetta Stone
The past is made of ashes stoked by the warm fires from what was once the present. They lay before me in the fireplace—heaped together, delicate and formless—with a bittersweet taste, soft color, and caustic smell. Each time I ignite another fire, it burns intensely for a while. The flames begin to flicker and eventually burn out. Ultimately, more ashes accumulate on the existing pile.
If I blow on the ashes, they will gently disappear on the winds of time, and I am left to ponder, “Where did they go?” Bewildered I wonder, “Did the fire ever really exist?”
I continue to speculate. “Is the past merely a figment of my imagination? Is it a memory of what was but, like the fire, will never be again? Or is the past a reality lost in the arms of infinity?”
Perhaps the past is not lost at all. Like the ashes that linger in the fireplace, the past clings to the present, subtly altering it. In that sense, the present is an elaborate tapestry where both the past and present are sewn together to make new patterns and designs.
Sometimes, the relationship of the past to the present reminds me of how language evolves throughout time. Our current language is a rich meld of many languages, cultures, and events. Shakespeare would undoubtedly have trouble understanding the present-day language.
Like Shakespeare, I do not easily comprehend the language of my present and how the language of my past has reshaped it. Yet, I instinctively know and see evidence that my past changes my present. Sometimes the past reminds me of the Rosetta Stone. It holds the code that could help me decipher the hieroglyphics of my life.
whimsical squiggles and wiggles
decipherment led to comprehension
a stone provides deeper understanding
combinations are consonants
we are the thing that is translated
often, on the Rosetta Stone
deep within us is the Rosetta Stone,
the translator of who we really are.
*The Rosetta Stone is a stele of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a decree from 196 BC in Ancient Egyptian, Demotic and Greek scripts. It was the first Ancient Egyptian bilingual text recovered in modern times and key to deciphering the scripts. This Egyptian stone bears inscriptions in several languages and scripts; their decipherment led to the understanding of hieroglyphic writing. It’s an irregularly shaped stone of black granite 3 feet 9 inches long and 2 feet 4.5 inches wide, and broken in antiquity; it was found near the town of Rosetta (Rashid), about 35 miles northeast of Alexandria. (Wikipedia.com)
Copyright ©
Sara Etgen-Baker
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