Utterance Poem by Usha Pisharody

If what I say
Is known to you-
Do I need to say it
At all?

If what I say
Shall hurt you-
Must I say it?
Even if it be truth?

And what I may say;
If it be untruth,
All the more reason
I know-
To Not!

My words can
Scarce say
What my silence will.

This communion
Is what I know
I must employ.

But darn!
Silence in itself
Is far too powerful
For me to handle-

And so, I fall back
On words, once again
Which, in my
foolish arrogance
I believe, I can control.

Not realizing,
How these, like arrows,
Will hit, and never
Never return.

And no amount
Of silence,
Can ever heal;
Then.