Saturday, September 14, 2013

Ottoman

Ottoman

I consulted a dictionary,
thick as any gravestone,

the meaning of each word
only given in terms of other words

whose meanings must also be
looked up and so 

around and around we go --
illusory, inclusive world of words

created by barking, braying,
warbling and lamenting,

cooing, crooning, flesh-throated human beings --
our wordiness letting no truth in edgewise.

Your love I find inexplicable, indefinable, unutterable --
Your love -- all You ever talked about (in Your silence).

Silence I dare not keep -- the truth of myself
might shine forth for all to see.  I dare not shine.

I dare not embrace, so I go home
and write a poem about shining, embracing --

a pillow made of my dictionary,
an ottoman of my phonebook.

O child of God, words never tell the Truth
yet, they are the only means at your disposal

                             

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