(a) Do not allow insult:
language should be a thimble
to shield your brother’s thumb.
(b) Do not tell your firstborn
the story of Isaac:
you just never know.
(c) Do not let yourself speak
about the unknowable.
(d) Do not use language
to punish, to command
or to complain:
language is the month
of March, a time
to straighten one’s things
with one eye on the spring.
(e) Do not pretend
that you hold language
as a craftsman holds
a tool. Language holds you
steady as it stuffs you
full of others
language should be a thimble
to shield your brother’s thumb.
(b) Do not tell your firstborn
the story of Isaac:
you just never know.
(c) Do not let yourself speak
about the unknowable.
(d) Do not use language
to punish, to command
or to complain:
language is the month
of March, a time
to straighten one’s things
with one eye on the spring.
(e) Do not pretend
that you hold language
as a craftsman holds
a tool. Language holds you
steady as it stuffs you
full of others