After Words Poem by Sonny Rainshine

Marlene, a famous grammarian, spent her final years
if-ing and because-ing and whether-ing,
neither-ing and nor-ing: trying to connect
the intricate clauses of her past.

In her younger years she had to-d
and before-d, of-d and until-d,
making each preposition a loaded proposition
dangling at the corner of her lips.

She smeared her middle years
with nouns, like Love and Beauty,
and her yearning for immortality
was reflected in her use of infinitives:
to live, to engage, to aspire, to create.

Now, at 94, she feels that language
has betrayed her; she wonders
if she has identified the mechanics
of speech, the expression of living,
but failed to see the underlying
current behind the words.

In conquering speech so precisely,
in defining so eloquently the meaning
of being alive, she has neglected to live it.