revelation over control

words should be doors   

animals and plants were named
and we then felt we had dominion over them,

I still hear the conqueror within friends,
as one will name a thing, an idea,
and then think we understand it,
and can even dismiss it,
for we have power over it
 if we know its true name,

if a student has trouble learning,
and we name it as dyslexia, ADHD, auditory processing disorder. . .
we almost seem to believe that then we have a handle on it,
a handle with which we have no need
to do more than name it,
whereas I think the name is only a door
through which we must go and get to know what’s within,

I hear a quote, read in a book,
and I feel the quote and the book get to know me,
and each has more of a handle on me than I on it,

words have power,
for me words are not so much wands to wield
as doors that pull me up into them,
and make me larger
as I choose revelation over control.


by Henry H. Walker
June 14, ’12