Calm Yourself

You do try to use

The littlest, least

Of us as verbal

Shields against the world—

Play it as it lies,

Take it as it comes,

It is what it is—

Clichés are tiny

Mantras, barriers,

Sea walls lashed by storms.

The least poetic

Of souls still chant us,

Spells made of small words

Insisting what is

Is not disastrous.