Words like Water

by N. E. Moeckli

I am one drop of water

Cold, concise with ever-changing form

Speaking incoherent languages to quench the thirst of strangers

They swallow, and my speech turns to ice in their bodies

My thoughts lose translation in digestion

And manifest in ways no moral man would drink

I flow into a lake of silence and dilute these expectations

To reform as a new woman - scared of water, not words

My soul dries with pages of truth weighing on my hands

Seeing evidence of stories no one trusts their lips to guard

I find a voice stronger than a million shrieking tongues

Wanting hydration, but needing ink to fill the well from their eyes to their souls

One day I will bleed the lies from someone’s heart,

Evaporate their burdens from a jar and draw the water from their eyes

My consciousness exhales secrets onto a simple white page

Worth more than fears of failure and suffocation

I breathe the first breath that feels like home

Where translations are two way streets between strangers of the same mind