Words

Words are amazing things. Much like light, they have no real weight,  dimension or mass. They are fleeting and ever changing. Seen as different from one person to the next as the animal, cartoon, diety or monster created by a cloud.

The cloud is just water. Nothing more nor less. It is the potential of the cloud that makes it something amazing. Will it gently shade the space I choose to rest in? Will it cover me in a warm sprinkle while I make love in the tall grass? Will it unleash furry and destruction on a land unprepared? The potential for these is there.

Words are amazing things. Much like the bricks and mortar a master mason uses to create his work. A small wall to keep a garden. A foundation for some towering creation. A battlement to protect from something, to keep up the fear of something. A mausoleum or cathedral.  All strong, hard, enduring things. All with the potential to last, seemingly forever.

Words are amazing things. Much like the palate of an artist. The little tubes of pigment neatly (or randomly) in their stained wood case, waiting to be spread upon the palate. Skillfully mixed to create a never-ending source of expression. Soft, unlike the masons block. Thick, textured and touchable, unlike the cloud. A painting well done is as meaningful, touching, life changing (devastating?) and timeless as either of the previous.

Words are as strong, hard and endless in their potential to create, effect and to last. To endure as long as any other art – stone, clay, pigment, wood or music. Words will move, touch, combine and divide. Words are accessible to most everyone. No matter how well-trained, no matter how reckless, lacking all forethought, words are just hanging around out there, waiting to be mixed and matched together to create – SOMETHING.

An arrow through the heart perhaps? A kiss that will forever linger in the memory. A vision to move a population. A statement to destroy a career, a company, an entire generation.  A direction for the lost. A warning for the adventurer. A history for the inexperienced to ponder.

Words are simply amazing things. Vocabulary being akin to the first pile of raw untouched clay thrown down on the wheel. Ready to be transformed into art or tool. Words are all potential performers waiting in the wings for their que – to be shouted, sung or scrawled on a wall.

I like words. Occasionally they like me. I mention this because it was recently brought to my attention how many words are credited in creation to William Shakespeare. A fun topic to research. So far, this is the list and review I prefer.  Just for when you are interested too.  To the Bards Credit.

Next time you have something to say, choose your words carefully. They are powerful, magical things. Once let loose, once shared, they never go away. The verbal Jeanie just cannot be put back in the bottle.  There is no “can I take that back” wish.

A V