Echo

by Virgil — a poem card from Justes Mots

An extended meditation on the physical nature of sound and echo, attributed to Virgil, exploring how voice travels, multiplies, and returns. The poem transitions from scientific explanation to romantic reverence for natural mysteries and the divine presence in wilderness, celebrating imagination and the presence of gods in wild places.

Sound, voice are bodies. Though not for the hand
To grasp, sense feels them, acts at their command.
They wind into the ear, and strike the drum;
Hark! response, as to a conductor’s wand.

The voice even can hurt, as fist, or saw.
In full volume, hoarse, grating on the jaw,
Jostling its way in haste to worry through,…

Themes: sympathy · grief · reflection