A good argument, etymology instructs,
is many-jointed.
By this measure,
the most expressive of beings must be the giraffe.
Yet the speaking tongue is supple,
untroubled by bone.
What would it be
to take up no position,
to lie on this earth at rest, relieved of proof or change?
Scent of thyme or grass
amid the scent of many herbs and grasses.
Grief unresisted as granite darkened by rain.
Continuous praises most glad, placed against nothing.
But thought is hinge and swerve, is winch,
is folding.
"Reflection,"
we call the mountain in the lake,
whose existence resides in neither stone nor water.
~ Jane Hirshfield
