Being an English major makes me have to read and write a lot. Once, I was asked to come up with a few lines based on Walt Whitman's Canto 6, "A Child said, What is the grass?" Over the years I've come to admire his work and I came back to this project and I've come up with my own spin off, inspired by Whitman's beautifully written poem.
What is ink?
A child said What is ink? Fetching it to me with firm grip a pen;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
I guess it must be a handy craft of God,
A kind and unforgettable gift to those who wish to use.
Make a mark here and another there,
Oh look at how it inhabits and occupies the clean space around!
It shows the scripts of what one commands, permanent on a slip of paper like a contract.
Or I guess it is a person, produced by the words of man.
Loving, scary, angry, or alone,
And even all of the above.
It may be that after some time I know them,
It may be you transpired them from your own heart and mind,
It may be a close friend, or neighbor,
And here is where you are the mother, or father.
Or I guess it is a colored fluid in the use of creativity.
Designs, or inventions formed, constructed just from the mere thought,
Black and sketchy or loud, with all the colors of the rainbow,
Played out perfectly on a canvas; the creators here are not called writers, but artists.
I guess it is inscriptions of history, telling stories of old and new.
Making letterings and characters to explain life,
Crafting smears, blots, and smudges onto delicate papers and flawless skin.
Literally leaving perpetual traces of what mankind is.
And now it seems to me the ultimate and most fundamental tool of expression.
Tenderly will I use the esthetic material in the hopes of persuading readers,
Or even yet captivate an audience on undeniable insights of art.
In summary it can be all things but not any until I or you choose to pick up a pen.
It can be a powerful weapon, or a beautiful master piece,
However, big or small the impact, it is always something of great importance
Because once it has begun to be placed into sentences or take shapes it is there to stay.
