There is simply no way

to not communicate.

But there are times

When direct quotations

must masquerade

as pointless noise.

Working backwards,

the cipher takes

a clear line

of thought,

ties it into

a Gordian knot,

and casts it in to the ether,

to be parsed out,

piece-by-piece

by one side

or another.

Brilliant mathematicians,

turned prospectors,

decrypt, ascribe

and sift for grains of truth,

or pertinent words

in the cloud of deception.