Synonyms are words that show likeness,
how I am like you. Antonyms are words
that show opposition, how we are not alike.
Homonyms give us the same sound
but are spelled differently, as in
there is no their there and wouldn’t you prefer
to dye than to die, even if there is a big hole
forestalling the consoling whole?
Heteronyms are spelled the same
but sound different and mean different things:
we row through our many rows and we bow
to Cupid’s bow. We are very deliberate when
we deliberate. We are close before the close.
But here it gets complicated
with homophones and homographs
and is any of that really relevant here
except to say there are likeness and differences
even in the same structures, in these crossovers
and enchantments of signification.
Hymns are another matter entirely;
they only rhyme with their relatives.
They sing a glory to the way things have come to be;
they sing an anthem to the universe;
they praise our us-ness and banish the void;
they exult the cosmos and rejoice in the existence
of this, a poem that insists
you cannot perfect the already perfect.