I could say betrayal I could say there is love
and it doesn’t touch this sadness I could say
you are rain falling you are mist rising
and icicles forming I am a stream a river
moving along the bed of the earth and we are
elementally the same but formally opposites
I could say language is a gauze on the
crusted heart I could say language is all
we have is the house we build and tear down
build and tear down I could say …
I could say before we used words our eyes
spoke I will say when we got off the phone
and I walked outside the cottontail’s ears
quivered as the light at dusk shone through them.
*Original music accompanying these poems were written by Steve Jones who is a composer, musician, songwriter, and teacher who lives in Kensington, MD. He has written two jazz musicals.