Words...

“I want to watch your mouth move as you talk to me
That’s all I ever want from the people I love
Flowers are good and all
But moving mouths mean so much more
When they are moving in front of my eyes
And sometimes people are like poison
And their teeth are the things that hold on to you
For years and years
And no matter how much you move and bend
And shake and cry out
They never let you go.
My father once said that all people are strangers
Until they write words to each other
Or look at each other from across a crowded train
Or bus
Or street
And we wrote words to each other
The first words were ‘hi’
And ‘how are you’
Nothing big but they were
Big
To me
If it is true that sometimes
People are like poison
Then it must also be true
That sometimes people
Are like holy water
Not the kind that lives in churches
No
The kind that live in puddles
Or kettle ponds or lakes
Or sometimes rivers
The constant flow never ends
The love will never cease to be
It all just moves
And moves
And moves
Back where it came from
Back into the ocean.
~ “for c”- esperanza friel