words swell
like the earth at first
taste of spring

set them down
like buds on a bough
like shoots of green
grass in the muck
come back

in a day
and all is well

in a month
your ways are parting
like petals of a flower
or blooms on weeds

come winter
you won't recognize
this tree
nor find that dead leaf
down in its snowy bed

words come and swell
like a heart or a man
drop them down like rain
put your thumb on the garden hose
and spray the soft earth

or drop them soft as snow
mound them up for a white veil
wrap them round for dead man's clothes
become inscrutable to your own self