Sotto Voce
by Hth

I was mute when you met me, and you think you know why 
Stolen voice, stolen heart, and I was lost in translation 
My tongue was a bird in your cage 
Its new-fledged wings fluttering flightless inside my mouth 

Do you remember when 0 and 1 were shapes 
And you made stick figures with them in brightly colored wax? 
Before your mind was digital, and endless rivers of code 
Ran through you, bringing you all knowledge? 

I remember my dancing days, deaf-mute days, 
And the moment when I first understood that fine static, 
Felt it coalesce into repetition and meaning, and sounds 
Became my obsession, and speech fast on the heels of sound 

But words were indecently naked when I spoke them 
Language enticed me, fine-skinned and organic words, 
Until my own voice victimized them, pierced and bruised 
And tattooed my clumsy art over their inborn prettiness

While you were falling in love with me, I was growing wings 
And my every thought became long-legged and delicate, 
A flock of herons by the endless river of codes and keys 
Bending their necks low to drink that crucial symbolism 

Now at last I drink from you, my cup of all knowledge, 
My digital chalice, my binary love, the curve and the line united 
By one round drop of paint and one flat thread of brush. 
While you sleep in my arms, I count the infinite rounds & flats of you 

When you trace those keys and symbols, A, B, C, Omega 
On my back, each letter is an icon that words must worship 
And carry the weight of, and put great store by 
While my silences remain damp-footed birds who can suddenly fly.