the accidental plagiarist

we must tread around these words
on the very last threads of our socks,
careful,
care-full,
for it would take one slight mis-step
to crush a well-placed verb
with our heavy un-finishing schooled feet,
and these shards of alphabet-genius will cling to our ungainly soles,
and when we next step on to pages of our own,
we will find the prints we leave behind,
other than with the mud of our clumsiness,
will sparkle with the crystal of your cleverness.