The Blade Turns in the Hand

If eyes mean you have soul,
And words mean you’re so smart,

Asks the crow, do you know
More than just that you are,

Do you know what? Words will
Let you say that you do.

Words will let you say why.
But then, watch them, they slide.

The crow tilts a wise eye.
Those words of yours may be

Less like you, more like me.
But just when words say so.

Put them down, your fine tools,
Let them lie in neat lines.

Not so smart now, are they?
For an ape or a crow,

A tool is what you want
Just so that you can get

The things you want for real.
But I swear, these words talk

Still in their lines, like that
Word freak used them to say

Of his life as a child,
As if he knew he was

What they were as they sang
In their chains like the sea.