because
even in silence and no word spoken
no eyes ever met
an abstinence
that abstains from language,
shuns all words, no voice sounds
yet around you
language approaches two-leggedly
imagination on the wings of language
words hide behind gestures that hide the cult
as if you're witnessing proceedings
a ritual, an acting by many to diminish you, the stranger
the cleansing procedure the blotting out
the connivance the complicity
are these faces, protruding eyes
frozen into the most uniform grimace
performing an aimed repetition of cummunal terror