‘Through the Looking-Glass’. Illustration by John Tenniel.
How could we have known
when we were young
that verbs have a temper,
not like docile adjectives
hanging like ripe fruit
to be picked and used
in a line? Words come
easy these days,
some so overused
they sound suspicious,
like baiting horses
into the corral
with flakes of hay—
so often meaning more
than what they say.
