Beneath the veneer

Beneath the veneer
       of words
more words
       as we sift our way
through tattered pages
       and posters torn to shreds
the dust of words
       way beyond meaning
words dead to the world
       light years of words
that no longer connect
       words once spoken
by earlier anatomies
       species that have gone
the way of the world
       to ash and to dust
cold bones
       beyond sense

John Lyons