No Words

way back before words man belonged here like animal

and lived with open eyes

in wonder

in failing to define he didn’t have the tools to judge

and so sat

lost in sheer appreciation

colour and shape, preceding words, became embedded as currency

seeing was feeling

every grain

to see was to be on a sensuous plane

no thoughts

for words are the meat of thoughts

and no memories

for thoughts are the water of memories

no past

for memories are the windows of past

and no future

for the past is the corollary of future

and see-saws with it away from now

shallow theft

to see a plant and think “plant”

reducing all that gracious presence to a monosyllabic noise

and never again to gape

immersed in splendour

what an opportunity missed!

to think and judge and move away unmoved

knowing that once man lived at one with the fish and the birds

until he grew dumb

with words