Calling

In some languages cognate
With language itself, a shared
Etymology for speech

Of any kind, with calling
As a particular kind.
In English, it equally

Evokes naming, contacting,
And culling from the masses,
A person’s own, true calling.

It is not usually linked
To speech or language itself
In this language, but calling

Always keeps close the pathos
Of failed communication,
Of one-sided crying out

To some being who never
Responds or who stays silent,
Unresponsive, long enough

To create desperation,
Despair, grief in the caller,
Calling, calling, still calling.

Language was built on that grief.
Very few animals speak,
But many know what it’s like

To call and get no response,
To call and call urgently
And never to be answered.

Language elaborated
This dreadful scenario,
The voice in the wilderness.