Preservation

Two Syllables

She is a name repeated over and over
Two syllables like a heart beat
the tip of the tongue tapping the palate on the second
Spoken softly as if it were a weight too heavy to carry
She is a story with truths too hard
So we enunciate each syllable instead because it's easier to hear
And yet
Even that is too hard to bare
So we shorten it to one
Like a hiss with more mystery than the last
The tongue hovering but never touching
Just under the palate
Flinching away from that reality even in phonetics