Alphabets

Alphabets
 
Carrying the weight of dreams
in swirls of ink, slashes, curves,
the code we learn to decipher
resonant notes for composing
versatile as hand-spun yarn
or ikat-patterned fabric
unique clouds and thumbprints
zephyrs for armchair sailors
ambidextrous acrobats
seagull tracks left on the beach
carved shards of Babylon
fossil strata in canyons
silent records full of sound
vital and strong as water.
 
Talents taken for granted
like water, shape shifters,
subtle as dew, temperate
or not, glacier, snow, rain, steam,
cultivated in greenhouses
or left to grow wild as weeds.
 
[Originally published in flashquake, 2011.]