Beginning
I begin to speak and an ocean leans forward to listen. I offer a word which is like a pebble tossed into the depths. What I said was almost nothing. And yet, the water trembled, took the pebble, made of it something rounder, smoother, something its own. So, I continue to throw syllables into the deep, trusting that meaning is not what I throw but what the world returns to me.
Wow! What an opening line, Paul! In fact, the whole poem is a quietly marvellous reflection on what you give and what surprisingly comes back from who or what is out there listening to your words and deciphering their own meanings from them. Excellent, as always.
My thanks to @r.s ★ for this restack!