HARD WORDS?

HARD WORDS?


I don’t know how to say hard words—
I don’t understand them when they roll off the tongue,
nor do I want them on the walls of the house
where I strive to be something more
than this today that’s already almost yesterday;
therefore I say I don’t know

how to shape harsh words
within a society of the sorrowful
with a cry on the bridge and no reservations
to tomorrow's mistakes
behold the mane, the dune, the vial, the stigma,
the prayer, the fall

not knowing when you're at zero on the scale
that goes from zero to ten, but
that goes from zero to ten, but
if you can’t handle harsh terms and times
in an Age of dark clouds
it’s better to sleep

and tend the garden so that pests will eat it.