What Shines Does Not Always Need To by Adam Clay

What Shines Does Not Always Need To

Because today we did not leave this world,

We now embody a prominence within it,

Even amidst its indifference to our actions,

Whether they be noiseless or not.

After all, nonsense is its own type of silence,

Lasting as long as the snow on your

Tongue. You wonder why each evening

Must be filled with a turning away, eyes to the lines

Of the hardwood floor as if to regret the lack

Of movement in a single day, our callous hope

For another wish put to bed with the others in a slow

Single-file line. I used to be amazed at the weight

An ant could carry. I used to be surprised by

Survival. But now I know the mind can carry

Itself to the infinite power. Like the way snow

Covers trauma to the land below it, we only

Believe the narrative of what the eye can see.