(no subject)

It thought we would never name it but we did.

We managed to do more than that, in fact:

We traced it (tracked and drew it) where it hid,

Numbered its colors such that, when attacked,

We only had to twitch ourselves compact

And watch its body sail by overhead,

Down, safe, amused. The only thing we lacked

Was some sure way to kill it, since what fed

Our hearts fed its, sustained us living and it dead.


And so it turned out all it had to do

Was wait: we would forget to pay attention,

Forget to tell the whole truth to the new,

Forget, there being so many, one dimension

Of what we'd bled to learn; any dissension

On matters of importance it would leap

To quarry, chasm, cleave until convention

Required two clashing truths affirmed, to keep

The peace. Once papered, such a split grows fathoms deep.