The Way of Names
What is a name
Can it change tremor to sigh
Truth into lies
Change the thing it signifies
Change the moon into an eye
A crater to a sty
Sty into a vision
Doubt into decision
Does a name graze the skin
Touch the tongue
Clutch the throat
Scan the cave in back of the lung
Does it hunt the black route
In the bend of the spleen
End in the throat
Begin the beguine
Is it a song, a sob
A hiss, a sigh
Can it exalt, denounce
Deny, defy
Does a name change you
Do you change the name
Is everything different
Everything the same
When we carve a name in stone
Does the stone feel the name
Is everything different
Everything the same
The bone, the ash, the nail, the hair
Is there a shadow on the hill
Does it listen
Can it hear
When a dog hears its name
Will it come when we call
Do we see past the stars
Do we rise, do we fall
When we built the Tower of Babel
Did we speak the same word
Did we shout, did we whisper
Did we listen, were we heard
Will the water in the stream
Bless the babe when he dips
Bless his eyes, curse his bones
Glorify his whitened lips
Does Wordsworth’s babe
Born in glory
Name the world
Or become the Story