Words

By Pauli Murray

We are spendthrifts with words,

We squander them,

Toss them like pennies in the air–

Arrogant words,

Angry words,

Cruel words,

Comradely words,

Shy words tiptoeing from mouth to ear.

But the slowly wrought words of love

and the thunderous words of heartbreak–

Those we hoard.

Copyright Credit: “Words.” Copyright 1970 by the Pauli Murray Foundation, from Dark Testament and Other Poems by Pauli Murray. Used by permission of the Liveright Publishing Corporation.