Words carry weight

as surely as

pebbles thrown

into a

still and affected pond.

 

The weight ripples

the water

and travels on

throughout its length,

stirring in

ways large and small

even the deep precious life

within the pond.

 

Words can be

as heavy as bricks

dropped deliberately

or accidentally

from height to

explode and injure

on the ground below.

 

Then words are

full of danger,

are weapons,

and there is no warning

about their

potent and immediate

effects.

 

The weight of words

is not subject to

the laws of physics,

like every object

in the universe,

but works as surely

as the force of gravity

in the spaces between us,

in the spaces that divide,

through the places

that bring us together.

 

9/4/2015