I speak in my language; you listen for yours.

Striving to cull the crosslinking false cognates
which sing near valid inside and infiltrate,
we co-opt words from the private lives of our antecedents,
inscribe definitions into the abridged dictionaries of our requirements.

We exhale inert inquiring idioms until the small djinn
of misunderstanding pass enough confused whispers
to make recognition plausible.

But what is said is weighted down with approval
so it can't leak secrets or surprise with truth,
can't work to convert the unknown into the familiar.

The wisest things you ever said to me
you didn't hear.