WHAT'S IN A NAME

we are people of the name ... they are people of the word ... we are masters of language ... they are mastered by it ... we excel at manuals ... they have bibles ... we use words to get through things to where we want to go ... they use words to get into things and then sit there and wonder ... even the people of the word concede the power of the name for to name is to command and to command is to get the right to name ... we don't pretend to know things in and of themselves ... it's enough for us to command them ... the people who don't take this seriously are no good in business or war ... they are the ones we command ... the poet on his mountaintop lost in the reverie of his words is the last to speak his language ... the rest are here down on the plain learning ours ... we write the histories we graduate the doctors and the scientists we name the universe ... and then we put it to work ... of all men we are the most humble the most moderate the most reasonable for we know what's in a name and we know it won't last ... all things pass ... in the meantime we intend to thrive