Past and Future

Past spoke but Future didn’t know
 who Past spoke to
  —Future or itself.
Most words died,
 lost in mist
  or fallen
  before they ever left the mouth.

Some spiraled out
 in record repetition,
  written as written as spoken as written
  as spoken as written as spoken as spoken.
Reaching Future in one time,
 a mass presented,
  full, impossible.

Future covered their ears,
 yelling back,
  “The dead speak louder than the living!
  The dead speak louder than the living!
  The dead speak louder than the living!”

But Past did not hear.
And Future saw their words
 flowing downhill,
  speaking their death
  to those ahead.