Strung Together (I Know You Know) Poem by Faith Wood

If you're speechless, forget all words,
Forget the rythm of sentences and the flowing of rhymes
Just keep our memories hung, dangling from your ears
so that they're halfway between your heart and mind
And like the notes of a chord, we're strung together,
can't play one without the other
and when played, a beautiful melody is formed
as if to say 'from this view the world is perfect.'

Can you hear me?
I know I'm speaking quietly,
whispering down the frequency
but without another word,
I know you know.
It's all found in the motion of eyes,
the gesture of a smile
I know you know.

With the slightest reassurance that you're near
I'm ready to face the world head on
Because it seems no matter the diffiuculty or challenge
or even the distance needed to travel,
you're still as close as you are when we're standing side by side
It's a reminder of the laughter lingering on our lips
The more jokes told, the more memories made
and the more I've realized what the 'best' in front of a word really means

Can you see me?
I know at times I'm not in view
and the words I'm speaking aren't clear cut
but without another glance
I know you know
It's all found in stiffled laughs
that we make at essentially everything
I know you know.

Regardless of the paths our futures hold,
all the twists and turns on crooked lanes,
the one thing that will help ease the abrupt stops
is that together we'll be going forward in a straight line
And our shoulders will have eachother for company
and still will as we grow older
And we'll look up to the stars and listen for crickets-
A harbinger of a life lived to its fullest.

Can you feel me?
I know there are times I'm hard to read
and just talking can be fustrating
but forget everything else
I know you know
It's all found in the squeeze of a hand,
the punch of an arm
I know you know