Certain domains of words take aim at strangers –
to accuse, assault, open fire
on persons denounced, held to blame
Labels can bar the delicate image imprinted
behind every eye –
unbroken, unique –
secured in the soul’s secret lining
And the young can be hurt into hate,
can form a dense shell,
deny what the inward eye tells
Images encrypted,
passcodes lost
-
O world, words,
Unseal and drain this sickness
Clean away what blurs true sight –
what shatters,
what hates
Incite us to track
the imprinted human spirit
still in creation,
etched deep within
Andrea English is a member of Strawberry Creek Friends Meeting in Berkeley, CA (PacYM).