Poetry is the language before the fall of Babel.  It speaks to no man,without first

speaking to all mankind.  It crosses all boundaries and  all borders, holds no

nationality, excepting a global one, and claims  no gender its own.  Poetry

transcends poverty, caste and war.  It knows  no religion, yet has great depth of

spirit in all things.  It gives the  oppressed expression where otherwise they

would have none, it allows  the intelligencia to speak in such a way as to

capture the imagination  of others and shows us beyond refrute that we are

all indeed made in  one image and the only colour that matters, is the ink

we choose to  write in. Only through poetry can one escape from any prison

and triumph over any  ordeal. Often, poetry speaks secrets that would other-

wise go untold.   It is a freedom of expression that, because it originates

from within  us, cannot be curtailed, or censored, regardless of the regime

in which  we may live.  Poetry is universal, in that we all Love, Despair,

and Sorrow; it speaks a tongue that although muted, can never be fully
 
lost, even in  translation.