In love with language all my life, I’ve learned
a lot of origins. I studied Greek
and Latin, read Old Norse, and even turned
a little toward the Sanskrit, with a peek
at proto-English etymology.
I’ve always been a reader, and for years
I added shelving everywhere I dwelled.
E-readers now allow me smaller spheres —
I store a thousand volumes lightly held.

The decades of attention I have paid
to words, combined with sticky memory,
appear to let me hear more tones conveyed
than others catch. A dog’s olfactory
machine attends to smells full and intense,
and I get words in ways most do not sense.