Thursday, April 10, 2025

Unless, Sonnet #633

Is the word a tautology?

It seems to mean “if less, less.”

Or is it, as in theology,

Tinged, like faith is, with a guess?

What will happen is contingent

On (an unless) what might not be,

Should the past or future invent

Some unclear possibility.

We use the word every day.

Are we afraid to speak the truth,

To even believe what we say

(Old, we say it — less in our youth),

Nor mean to understand unless

We think unknowing to express?

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