[pencil+fight]

words fly;
they tell us
that in their soundings
and sometimes silence
these constructs
can pierce stronger
than steel.

which i believe, having
been once
or thrice
sliced myself,
sometimes on the edge
of my own speaking.

we could hold whole
battles,
between us,
without a blow falling
save that which
wounds in ways
we cannot so readily
recount.

i have been slain so,
though occasionally
brought back
after some few days
as seemed reasonable
(and risen,
would weep
through words
such as these)
9.1.03

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