I learn my friends as I would learn a tongue,
Each name a sound, each face an ornate glyph.
Like words and phrases, they may form a song,
A letter, or a poem, or a myth.
Some full of meanings, exquisite and fine,
Some are precise, while some are soft and vague.
These go together, these do not combine,
Those I avoid with women like a plague.
Yet some I babble in my wildest night,
While drowning in a perfume sweet and fair,
And some are mighty spells which help me fight
Delirium, and madness, and despair.
When passing winters take my speech away
You'll be my prayer for the coming day.
(December 31st, 2012)