You asked if I was pretending to type
But the sounds are real
The words
are real too

I have never sat down
At any keyboard
With any pen
To write fake words
Across paper and screens
Setting up words and letters like
Puppets in a play, dancing across a cardboard set
Human hands making them move in a mockery

Anything I’ve ever written
Has lived and had a life
Nothing that I’ve written or will write in your presence
Will be without substance
Or marionettes on string, dancing for you  


No, my love,
They live and come alive
Because we believe in them.