EVERY WORD

Every word
Which we have the freedom to use
Is a boy
Or a girl
as fresh as a prom corsage
in a pine box
In a bone white church
That sits high atop a field of markers
a million Stars of Bethlehem
Many of whom will share the name
Unknown.

Every word
Which we have the freedom to use
Is someone’s dream
Someone’s child
Someone’s love
Someone’s pain
which the wind has carried off
the returning flight of
dust and seeds
to an unimagincally distant place
which is reachable
solely
by the asphyxiating ache of a parent’s prayer.

Every word
Which we have the freedom to use
is as holy and sanctified
as the endless death march miles
of desiccated battlefields
and lost at sea oceans
which stand as memorials
constant reminders
that words are meant for
Declarations of love
and independence
and Constitutions,
Anthems
and Pledges of Alleigenace
and vows
and plays
and scientists
and philosophers
and bibles.

There is a reason that our very first word
and our very last ones
are cherished and
passed down like commandments

Without words
we have no thoughts.
Just obedience.

Every word
Which we have the freedom to use
Every letter
every syllable
Every thought behind them
should be memorialized
especially on this day
in the name of all of those who
perished like stardust
defending our right to have them.

And when the word
is resurrected
And we rise again
That is when we will begin
punishing the politicians
and preachers
who pretend to
speak the language of God
having never bothered
or cared to
learn
not even
one single word