Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the

earth.                                                          —Genesis 11:9

Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

—Revelation 18:21

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. . . .                     —Revelation 21:10

Words,

bricks of the Tower of Babel,

glued together by human mortar,

struggle toward Heaven like Sisyphus,

only to tumble divided to the depths of Hell.

We have a City to build.

We search for bricks

but find only bricks of Babylon,

the polarized language of humankind.

Our City is complex, holistic,

a gestalt of inexpressible relationships.

How does one describe the color blue or the smell of lilacs?

How does one share the warmth of a hug or the pain of prejudice?

As we ponder the impossible in silence,

the City of Jerusalem descends,

each life a precious gem of shifting facets

kaleidoscoping through moments in time,

bound to each and one another

by the mortar of eternity.

WE HAVE A CITY TO BUILD.