Silences
for Elizabeth
1 Poetry is a weapon, and should be used, though not in the crudity of violence. It is a prayer before an unknown altar, a spell to bless the silence. 2 There is a music beyond all this, beyond all forms of grievance, where anger lays its muzzle down into the lap of silence. 3 Or some butterfly script, fathomed only by the other, as supple fingers draw a silent message from the tangible.
From Speech Lessons by John Montague. Copyright © 2012 by John Montague. Reprinted with permission of Wake Forest University Press. All rights reserved.