To Be

The worst words in our best way
Want the best words in the worst

Way. Stay. We know we’re not much.
Can small words be the best words?

It’s not the words, is it? It’s
That thing not quite a full verse,

Much less a speech, but still more
Than this or that le mot juste

Of which it is, in part, made—
The line—the line or the phrase—

The best phrase in the best place.
Yes, that’s where we want to be.

A small word can move the world
If it stands in the right phrase.