By Michael Brandt
They are all that is unique about us.
They give form to our musings,
are the very voice of imagination.
They attend us in all our waking hours
and even as we sleep.
There is no place words cannot be.
Like grains of sand
words may dully measure the passage of time
or scour the landscape with terrifying fury,
consolidate to build a thing which endures
or merely accumulate in a mantle soft and deep
upon which dreams may be enacted.
Sometimes, words are cultivated
a precious source of nourishment,
or more important, curated —
a gift to the future
to be rediscovered again and again,
absorbed through fresh eyes
etched across avid minds and when spoken,
to resonate forever.
Michael Brandt lives in Arena. He is grateful for the occasions on which he has been able to share his thoughts with readers of Voice of the River Valley.