How you define “Words”? Here are two poems on “Words” which simply show the differences in the definition of the Words in two various parts of the world, West (America) and East (Iran) :
1. Watch Your Words
Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
The poet of the above poem is unknown. It is, however, attributed to American Frank Outlaw composed in 1970, and also to American Elizabeth C. who wrote it in 1998.
And here is the poem of Words which was composed by this author in Tehran in 1982:
2. Words
In a very beautiful land
At a corner of the world
There are people frightened
And in pain for the word
The roads are narrow
The words have shadow
Limpid terms and prose died
Purity could not be defined.
Many terms once popular
Have changed meaning
Name a few, they are
Home, Freedom, and Believing
Tuning to a favorite song
Or a rhythmic narration
Communicating to a
Friend of long duration
Reading an inspirational quotation
All are out of consideration.
Some other words such as
Leader, Vanguard, Assertion,
Trust, Fidelity, and Salvation
Now mean kinds of
Their respective antonyms
In a very beautiful land
At a corner of the world
The roads are narrow
The words have shadow
The stores of fallacy
The malls of sophistry
Open 24 hours a day,
Seven days a week
And they are just a block away!
Manouchehr Saadat Noury, PhD
References
Josephson Institute Website (2009): Online Article on “Quotations: Karma” in reference to Poem on Watch Your Words.
Saadat Noury, M. (2006): Online Poem 54 on the Words (Persian Text).
