Direction

Do we not already know —
That words make no sense
No sense at all —
Unless we already know
What they mean —

And if we already know
What a word means —
Why must we hear it again at all
To understand
Or ponder it further —

Sea — I already know
What it means
Do I need to be told again
What the sea is
If I have lived beside it
All my life —

And if I haven’t —
If I’ve always lived in the desert —
Can I truly know
What sea means

In either case —
The word is no use
Its pointing is pointless —
I don’t need the word
If I’m already within the thing itself
And if I’m nowhere near it
I don’t need the word either

And so these words go on —
Repeating what’s already known
Uselessly in words —
As if only through words
Could one know
What one already knows

And what is it that is already known
Whatever its name
That alone must be
The direction
Any word can ever
Point toward

While we believe — imagine —
That words point toward new worlds
Distant experiences
Realities elsewhere —
Worth seeking
Beholding
Attaining —

Forgetting
That no meaning at all
Would be possible
Without already knowing
The direction
To which any word
Points