Subtext

Subtext

Eyes can articulate with a clarity that mouths envy-

         but glances cannot be cataloged like phrases, tucked away in tidy files in locked rooms-

        instead, they evaporate like dew, dissipate into the air like curling tendrils of steam, that the brain cools     with a breath.

Silence is slippery and cannot be held down and dissected, examined, and deduced.

It has weight

       and shape

             and temperature

                              but no mass.

Eyes serve as transmitter and receiver

            for the brief coded messages that communicate meaning

when words would unbalance us-  topple us-

                                 pitching us over the edge.