WS Merwin - Losing a Language lyrics

A breath leaves the sentences and does not come back yet the old still remember something that they could say but they know now that such things are no longer believed and the young have fewer words many of the things the words were about no longer exist the noun for standing in mist by a haunted tree the verb for I the children will not repeat the phrases their parents speak somebody has persuaded them that it is better to say everything differently so that they can be admired somewhere farther and farther away where nothing that is here is known we have little to say to each other we are wrong and dark in the eyes of the new owners the radio is incomprehensible the day is gla** when there is a voice at the door it is foreign everywhere instead of a name there is a lie nobody has seen it happening nobody remembers this is what the words were made to prophesy here are the extinct feathers here is the rain we saw