Poem: "Pronouncements"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the November 3, 2009 Poetry Fishbowl. It was prompted by haikujaguar and sponsored by janetmiles.

Pronouncements

It was perhaps regrettable
that the instructions for creating a golem
were written entirely in Hebrew
and that, in certain words,
the vowels made all the difference.

It was perhaps regrettable
that the directions to the tomb
that did not contain a mummy army
were written in heiroglyphs
which did not include vowels
but did have a variety of alternate meanings.

It was perhaps regrettable
that the Mad Arab wrote in Arabic,
where the vowels - though present - were
merely diacritical marks, easily obscured
by aging parchment and hungry bookworms,
and that the djinn were particular
about the pronunciation of names.

Certainly it was regrettable
that several students in Professor Derleth’s
“Historical Linguistics for Sorcerors” class
had failed to do their homework.