WORDS

Some words have wings

With many a flirt and flutter

Like Milkweed Mariposas,

Sybaritic palabras in a meadow

Set the aorta to work.

Some words have wings clipped;

Mission aborted, reconciled to stillness.

Guardians of golden silence,

Hearing no evil, speaking less

Than a contemplative monk.

Some words have wings of war;

Feathered killing machines,

Raptors calling kree! kree!

Hunting for prey sinking claws

Sharper than a serpent’s tooth

Into hapless victims.

Some words have wings

Of perpetual motion, bon mots

Non-stop talkers, a roaring herd

Of hippopotami, blathering blowhards

Who never learned loose lips sink ships,

Mums the word, our lips are sealed.

Words can kill, the Koran says so.