After learning to juggle bights and bends
And loops, with twists and turns and crossings,
It doesn’t take much time at all
For even lubbers, as I know,
To hoodwink rope into an ordered knot
A la the nautical tradition.
It’s just like language
With a grammar and a diction to keep us on alert –
That little time was all it took
To recreate a lot of meaning.
