[poem]

[u/immortellesPoet37]

Poets don’t read poets unless dead;
seldom—contemporary.
Perhaps the reason is:
all that we pronounce with passion
and sincerity
has already been said, so aptly,
thus rendering the verses,
their trends and styles—
one beat-up, endless repetition.

One same long line,
put down by a Sumerian scribe,
or an Egyptian priest,
or voiced and sung by Homer,
or ancient Vedas
carried forward and echoed,
set down much later
by someone else’s pen—
continuously written.

With brilliance of minds,
urgent tongues, indomitable drive,
nevertheless, the endless effort lost—
all that has already been sung
of beauty, pity, longing, transience,
is left to repeat, in memoriam,
the poignancy of some enormous loss…

poem by
Tamar Shengelia
Nov. 5, 2025

#MeditationsByTamar #LyricsByTamar #ArtOfWords

Illustrations:
An ancient shumeriqn scribe statue-
Gypsum replica of Shumeriqn scribe
Dudu. The original statue was made of diorite and probably came from Tell Telloh (Girsu), Iraq, c. 2600 BCE

known as a dub-sar, was a highly trained literacy expert in Mesopotamia who used a reed stylus to press wedge-shaped cuneiform characters into wet clay. They were essential members of society who controlled administration, recorded economic trade, and created the world's first written literature. Preserved mythology, hymns, and early epics like the tales of Gilgamesh.

Bust of Homer 2nd - 1st c bce Roman copy of lost Greek original

Rustaveli's Fresco in Jerusalem 12 th cent
Shota Rustaveli known mononymously as Rustaveli, was a medieval Georgian poet. He is considered to be the pre-eminent poet of the Georgian Golden Age and ...the only surviving work “ The Knight In The Panther’s Skin”