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Elusive Words

Words are elusive entities that are difficult to grasp and control. While words may seem ubiquitous in books and dictionaries, when needed most they remain just out of reach behind veils of oblivion. Like the tide, one's command of words fluctuates; in some moments we feel we have command of language to express ourselves, and in others we are at a loss for words. Words behave independently, coming and going from our minds without our domination. At best, some literary geniuses are able to tame words, forcing them into beautiful combinations in written works, but for most people words remain cryptic and elusive, only temporarily loaned for modest creative purposes.

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32 views

Elusive Words

Words are elusive entities that are difficult to grasp and control. While words may seem ubiquitous in books and dictionaries, when needed most they remain just out of reach behind veils of oblivion. Like the tide, one's command of words fluctuates; in some moments we feel we have command of language to express ourselves, and in others we are at a loss for words. Words behave independently, coming and going from our minds without our domination. At best, some literary geniuses are able to tame words, forcing them into beautiful combinations in written works, but for most people words remain cryptic and elusive, only temporarily loaned for modest creative purposes.

Uploaded by

cookinglike
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LILIANA LPEZ

Elusive Words
In this the charm of words lies: in their elusiveness, in their being within reach but at the same time being miles away beyond our grasp. They are everywhere, in books, in dictionaries; we can learn all about them, but when we most desperately need them they keep themselves behind the veils of oblivion, ready to disappear. Everything is so ephemeral in life and so is our mastering of words: one moment we think we own a good display of words to describe our emotions and thoughts; the next, we are at a loss with words on the tip of the tongue unable to be spelled out or spilled on a page. Words come in and out our minds like roaring torrents of molten lava, without our dominating them; and being so incontrollable, words seem to be foreign to us, we do not perceive them the way we feel our legs, arms or eyes. No, words are independent entities that we only very rarely can subjugate to our will. Words are elusive, capricious, they belong to everybody but at the same time they belong to no one. They remind me of the old legends about seafarers being enticed by the mermaids chanting; those men couldnt possess those mysterious creatures because they would first vanish behind the sea mist like a dream, leaving the sailors with a mood of frustration. We also are familiar with that feeling of frustration, as we cannot reach completion in anything in life, we will never be able to know everything. Nor can we put every shade of our frustration into words: words remain unattainable, cryptic, playing hide and seek with us, making fun at us. Once in a while, the world has seen some privileged genius of poetry who could master and tame the words to do whatever he wished, slaving the words; so much so that they seemed to be happy to work for him; and in those rare occasions the most beautiful pieces of written art were given birth, when the elusive words were combined together in musical-like strings that filled thousands and thousands of golden pages. The rest of the common mortals, like me, must be content enough to borrow some of those elusive words to create a modest piece, content to timidly ask these words to stay together for a little while and perform our artistic writing production. Of course, elusive words would surreptitiously laugh at us like the mermaids-, knowing that we dont have any talent; but, out of compassion, they can grant us the favour and remain just a little longer in our sheet of paper. Nonetheless, in a Cinderella tale kind of way, when the magic stops at 12 oclock, they would first warn us very earnestly: Remember, its only for this page, dont ask for more., and then, like naughty fairies they would fly far, far away from us to the kingdom of the poets and the artists.

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