So Like Meaning

They retreated to the margins,
Not in some note-taking manner,
Not like medieval copyists

Making entertaining drawings
Of singing, flatulent creatures
In the vellum around the text—

They pulled themselves out of the text,
Refusing to participate,
Whole phrases and observations,

The elements of common sense.
They made themselves microscopic.
They made themselves irrelevant.

They had been a part of the wars,
But they disappeared like meaning.