FOR WHAT IS OWED

I inherited a silence no one remembers breaking;

It hums beneath my tongue banging against bone and flesh and 

taking, it takes me broken–

how would you feel if I told you that it hums like a warning

I was born knowing; some nights, I almost speak it––

then swallow the shape instead, hollow and hallowed be thy name

everyday consumed by when Kingdom comes for me, 

and you, and him, and them and then we’ll ache, our teeth, 

from all that was not named and loved, out loud.