Speak for Yourself, Poem

The lingering questions, for these

Words, anyway, remain

Are the terms of surrender themselves
Apathetic as the terms for victory?

Does a poem ever care in a way
Never shared by its compositor,
Never heard by any auditor,
Never felt by any reader?

Do meanings live, not just exist,
Not just lie around available
As possible meanings but actually

Live, without breathing,
Without feeding themselves
In any way ordinary lives can,
In any way ordinary lives can

Witness?

What is the meaning of this?