Word Thief

I listen to your words 

As they tear through you 

Dragging emotion with them 

Laboriously delivered 

Exhausted 

You leave them there 

I take them uninvited 

I drink them in 

I overlay them with my stain 

I plait them with intonation 

I write them with rhythm 

And claim them for my own 

I am merely a word thief 

The upheaval and turmoil 

I have not earned 

I could say I’m only borrowing~

But who has ever owned words 

But, someone paid for these words 

Someone gave heart and soul 

Someone paid with pain and grief 

Making these words their own 

What liberty do I have to this pain 

How do I intrude on this grief 

And play it as my own 

As if I paid the dues 

I am merely a word thief 

Yet, here I am 

Borrowing once again 

Painting the words 

With my hurt and my sorrow 

Interweaving the thread 

Of my experiences 

My pain, my hope 

My loss, my love 

And someday my words

Will lie scattered in the open

Waiting for another hand

To lift them, stain them, claim them

As if they were always theirs

They are merely 

the next word thief 

© Ron Simpson Jr. 

Current Word Thief 

January 20, 2026