This is a rewrite of a ghazal written many years ago, making this my 131st. The title, refrain, and preceding rhyme are the same, but everything else is different. Also, rather than using my takhallus (pen-name) directly in the final couplet, as I did in the original version, I just allude to it using one of its many meanings.
Reforming Words
We built this ivory dome on founding words;
its dream of hope sustained with grounding words.
Our Lady braves the darkness, torch in hand,
her call reechoed with resounding words.
In wisdom there is depth that can’t be measured
with just the simple plumb of sounding words.
Our elders gathered long ago and signed
a justice poignant with expounding words.
The multitude would never have been heard
without the glimmer of propounding words.
The graybeard mystic gained the truth of language,
and ever since has aired confounding words.
A wounded soldier presses to his brow
an old book full of most astounding words.
The shape of liberty has changed; the stars
are witness to the force of bounding words.
The original, written in February of 2002, can be read under the same title: “Reforming Words”.
