THE BELL

When it’s just us,

ourselves alone,

we know what we mean.

No explanation’s required.

Our thoughts are like a bell we hear

without actually ringing it.

Source always knows itself.

But it’s rarely just us.

To be part of

this whirligig of a world

we must engage with it.

We must play nice

and parley ourselves into it,

make ourselves accessible

to “non-natives,”

so they can know who we are

and, with a little luck, know 
what we mean

when we speak our minds.

For this to happen

we must translate ourselves

as best we can.

We must turn the bell

into a ringing thing.

We must really ring it.

We must make conversation.

And when we do

we are often met
with this little rejoinder:

Did you hear something?

Was that a bell?
What kind of ringing is that?

I wonder where it's coming from?

And so it begins: the business

of making ourselves understood.

Clang goes the bell.