If I could tell you
my deepest, newest thoughts,
they would have the same words
that I’ve been saying for years,
the same words others are saying,
no doubt, like me, noticing that
they essence they are trying to convey
does not come through

Words! — they are fickle vessels,
more like light projections
that you can walk in front of
and fill them with your shadow
while the image is reflected
off of you

But light — light can inhabit words,
if briefly, and it can keep them
in listening’s reflective silence.

©Wendy Mulhern
November 23, 2019