What Was That You Said?

The dead squeak and hum,
If they’ve lost their words.
The words sit and wait,
If they’ve lost their lives.

By means of a voice,
Words can wreck or rule
Worlds, but with no words
A voice haunts at best.

This is why the dead
Of your kind spook you—
They’re right there as words
That don’t do a thing

But wait, and then, when
The words get in you,
You think you hear them
Call, the dead, the dead.

But that time you thought
You saw a known shade,
What did it tell you?
It just creaked and moaned.