Come, Words, Away

Come, words, away from mouths,
Away from tongues in mouths
And reckless hearts in tongues
And mouths in cautious heads—
Come, words, away to where
The meaning is not thickened
With the voice's fretting substance,
Nor look of words is curious
As letters in books staring out
All that man ever thought strange
And laid to sleep on white
Like the archaic manuscript
Of dreams at morning blacked on wonder....
But never shall truth circle so
Till words prove language is
How words come from far sound away
Through stages of immensity's small Centering, the utter telling
In truth's first soundlessness.
Come, words, away:
I am a conscience of youNot to be held unanswered past The perfect number of betrayal.
It is a smarting passion
By which I call--
Wherein the calling's loathsome as Memory of man-flesh over-fondled With words like over-gentle hands.
Then come, words, away,
Before lies claim the precedence of sin
And mouldered mouths writhe to outspeak us.