There are words that can only be said on paper. It is fortunate they are few. All others shrink On paper to the thinness of dried ink And fade at the mind into forgotten vapour. There are words that can only be said once And have all been said before that fact is plain. In a sense no word can ever be said again And none can be said again in the same sense. There are words that have to be said or written, Answers and questions, times to be observed, But most words die in a cause they have not served Or bite forever what never should be bitten. And then there are the words that are left unsaid And the undetectable words used in their stead. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MY MOTHER LEFT ME by KAREN SWENSON TO THE SHADE OF PO CHU-I by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED MASTER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE by BEN JONSON THE GIRL OF ALL PERIODS; AN IDYLL by COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE THE DEMON DAWN by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE A DANCE FOR RAIN (AT COCHITI, NEW MEXICO) by WITTER BYNNER EPITAPH FOR JOSEPH BLACKETT, LATE POET AND SHOEMAKER by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |