Hopeful Words

What is the magic of a word?
Marks on a background
Meaning something
Sound waves on an ear
Ringing true

For all the ways we fail
To understand
For all the words that fall
On deaf ears

Isn't it much more the miracle
That words communicate at all?

I believe this suggests
By nature, we connect
Or else these marks, these sounds
Would suggest nothing more

And yet, even when they don't
We think they might
We believe they ought
Mean something more than they do

These thoughts give me hope
That none of us is really alone
That if we only pay attention

Try, reach, listen, and speak

We have every reason to believe
That someone else may speak
Something ringing true

To our eyes, our ears, our hearts

jsm 1/25/18