Speak Clean & Free

I think to myself in quiet excursion
you cannot be what you are
as you cannot be what you are not
because the world is too brief & teetering
& the sense of self is too constant & necessary
you cannot empty out the hollows
& the high sierras by mind or hand
nor heat the agency of despots
to a curling winnow
unless you speak clean & free
& detail the beauties everywhere roiling...