Acquaintance

Aliquitas ahead of the Black Death—
Quot of alia will quit by nightfall?
Latin terms still worm through shrouds of English,

As English terms will one day worm their way
Through languages that haven’t been born yet.
The forms sometimes called planes of expression

Devour, digest, and waste planes of content,
Little cannibals when it comes to it,
Although they do drag bits of reference

Around with them, well-incorporated
Into the current functions of their shells,
From segmental analysis of which,

It’s possible to determine something
About what was wrapped in the shroud, if not
To resurrect from rot its somethingness.

What’s left behind, shy of resurrection
From the flesh, is nonetheless not nothing,
Not emptiness, haze, acquaintance of breath.