Small Unknowable Worlds

Lyrics aren’t microscopy.
Microscopy sees to know.
Lyrics, unfortunately,

Literary lyrics, but
Ballads, doggerel, pop songs,
Work chants, and hymns included,

Are scratching an itch, the source
Of which the lyrics can’t see.
Look closely at the lyrics

Themselves with your microscope,
And you will spot the patterns
Of an art of frustration.

Lyrics want the itch to stop,
Whatever that itch might be.
Like any beastly scratching,

Lyrics alternate action,
Misery, hope, and relief,
Followed by more misery.