Restraint

***

Restraint

It isn’t easy for water
to restrain its flavors.
It isn’t easy for air
to conceal its hues.
It isn’t easy for light
to veil its lyric.
But the work of water
is to taste like nothing.
The work of air
is to look like nothing.
The work of fire
is to billow in the bloodstream,
a wave that feels like nothing,
even as it burns.

***