Loss for Words

Words words words
Used to describe all that can be seen or heard
The mysteries of the universe
To the call of a singing bird

Metaphors and imagery
Buttons, ribbons, and gloss
Descriptions of the indescribably
And yet right here, I’m at a loss

The words flutter in and out of my reach
Bathed in a happy incandescent glow
They ebb and flow, out and in
Filling my heart from above and below

Yet they don’t make lines
They don’t build thoughts
They’re incomplete phrases
With stumbles and clots

I clasp them close to me
And try to wrestle out meaning
Make sense of this turbulent tangle
And describe my eloquent dreaming

But they’re an unruly bunch
Never sitting still or settling down
My nursery of words
Is a nursery of tricky clowns

So I've given up keeping them in line
And just enjoy their easy charm
Let myself laugh in their tangles
And be lifted by their arms