The Word Alone       Spanish The Word Alone (La Palabra Sola) The word alone does not make fire. The spark of your imagination Against the angst of emotion, that might work The word is a stepping stone To a kernel of truth or passion. These things hold the power These things take you to a forbidden shore There you are washed up among the derby of wrecked lives. Hopes, aspirations, unreachable horizons, This is salvage, not accounting Why would you even be there If not for some catastrophic misadventure Desperation drives you to the word. It’s not need to know, it’s, absolutely must, The kid has his finger in the dike And someone better do something fast. or, the entire world As we know it will come tumbling down. Absolutely must know so you turn to the word This is your connected trafficking with the human experience. The chalk board where you cross things off the list Redefine compassion, resuscitate a credible vestige of truth. Make your stand, your escape, your salvation And you do it, by the word alone.