words

Action

words once spoken
ride the wind

moving from ear to ear
they can become distorted,
they can become legend,

treat them with care;

prefer doing to speaking,
there is more weight,
there is more substance
in action

I do not remember
every word I've read,
but I know how I felt
about the ones that have mattered;

I still feel the flames
they stoked within,
how they took my heart in their hands
squeezing until they brought tears,
how they made me invincible
and brought knowledge of the world;

without these words
I would be lesser

The Right Words

too often these days
there aren't the right words
to describe the emptiness -
the gutting that leaves us hollowed out
questioning all we thought we knew -
as the horror of living 
strikes so close to home;

what do words matter
when we feel impotent to impact change,
when our lives are held hostage
by those who see only themselves in power,
when the only ones that make sense are:
"why does this keep happening"

until we find a way to change -
to make ourselves heard -
we'll always be inadequate,
searching for the right words
to make sense
of senseless pain