Pretty Words
By Elinor Wylie
Poets make pets of pretty, docile words:
I love smooth words, like gold-enamelled fish
Which circle slowly with a silken swish,
And tender ones, like downy-feathered birds:
Words shy and dappled, deep-eyed deer in herds,
Come to my hand, and playful if I wish,
Or purring softly at a silver dish,
Blue Persian kittens fed on cream and curds.
I love bright words, words up and singing early;
Words that are luminous in the dark, and sing;
Warm lazy words, white cattle under trees;
I love words opalescent, cool, and pearly,
Like midsummer moths, and honied words like bees,
Gilded and sticky, with a little sting.
(o)
ReplyDeleteHoneyed.
ReplyDeletehoneyed. surely??
honied? pah! it grates.
Both are correct: honeyed and honied... at least here in America.
ReplyDeleteI like words too, having made lists and lists of my favorite words. I don't make pets out of them. I taste them, roll them around in my mouth. Feel the hard consonants and soft vowels with my tongue.
Sometimes I bite them. Always I swallow them, so they will swim in my veins, fill up my heart, inspire my brain.
xxx
You like words?
ReplyDeleteWho would have thought....
Adullamite - So, you just got around to noticing, eh?
ReplyDeletexxx
Ahhhhh, RDG: I see it now.
ReplyDeleteThat's why you need all that toilet paper, after eating all your words, Reader's Digest!!!!
ARGGGGGGGGGH!
ReplyDeletexxx
RDG: Chew more before swallowing, it sounds like those consonants might be giving you a bit of trouble.
ReplyDeleteNo, not consonants. That was me experiencing extreme case of hoof in mouth disease...!
ReplyDeletexxx