WORDS


We fasten words to things that fill our world

then cease to see them -

goat, stone, snow,

cow, bean - we barely notice

how eternity has brought to bear

upon each molecule its energy of purpose

forming patinas of bone, of grizzled skin,

of horn, of hair - we seldom sense

the transience in ancient weathered things

nor apprehend

the folding forms of birth and growth and death

until the word no longer fits