A word
can wield the weight
of a well-honed sword.

A sentence
can summon the strength
of a thousand armies.

An idea
can fall the knees
of an entire world.

But
with a sword that’s coated in poison,
with an army undisciplined and un-bled,
and in a world unwilling to hear-
my words
my sentences
and my ideas
are no more than specks on a screen smudged with mud.

“Speak,”
they say,
“and the world will listen.”

“Speak,”
I say,
“and the world will fear.”