from: Sitting with a Drunken Sorceress
It is nearly here, books are expected to be available in a week or two.
a forever feeling
Words written
have a forever feeling,
a deeper meaning
that goes on and on
that outlives the writer
a word written on paper
is etched in stone
to be found centuries later,
read and enjoyed or wept over.
The word spoken
is thrown out
to the wind
to carry it away
can leave a scar
to be remembered
but it doesn’t last forever,
a word spoken softly
to soothe and caress
may be felt for the moment
but flies away into the air
soon forgotten by the speaker.
Ah, but the word written
remains
to enter our dreams
to carve us,
yearning
brings a tender tear
overflows
falls upon the breast
soaking into the heart; it stays.
A word written binds
like your washing of another’s hands,
gently, caressing
as the soap cleans; scents the skin
seeping into the flesh
to stay as the memory
of that other touch rubs deeply
into that space in you
that no one knows is there.
The written word can be revisited
again and again a treasure
to tease,
to awaken a sleeping moment,
Arlene S. Bice (C)