I meant that thought preceded language in human history, and language, not in some nebulous sense, but in the sophisticated sense of that which we consciously, intentionally use to convey ideas, including abstract ideas, metaphors even. One doesn't even need to consider language impairment to see that thought precedes language in that sense. Human infants quite clearly demonstrate thought long before they can express ideas, let alone abstract ones.
As for examples of metaphor, here is one which cleverly reuses a cliche but makes it fresh by extension:
Lovesick by Rose Kelleher
Don’t look away, you gave me this disease.
A carrier, you passed it unawares.
My every cell is altered now; each bears
your stamp, a mutant, every drop of me
adulterated. If I could, I’d squeeze
the stinging poison out. It’s in my hair,
my fingernails, each microscopic pair
of spiral strands, corrupting by degrees.
Geneticists who study me on slides
could piece you back together. My remains
will carry traces, in these scalded veins,
of your warm hand; in my triglycerides,
and in the deepest etchings of my brain,
they’ll find the you my body memorized.
Philip
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