1. Gaslight 2. Niveous (resembling snow) 3. Disfigure 4. Lace 5. Velleity (noun: volition in its weakest form, a wish unaccompanied by effort) 6. Mausoleum 7. Echo 8. Tilt 9. Sandstone 10. Cadaver 11. Sibyl (a female prophet) 12. Ebony
Walking through Delphi’s ruins,
I came upon Sibyl’s mausoleum
Though it was disfigured by time,
The sandstone steps uneven and tilted
And its marble columns reclined …
I thought lightly to make a query,
To know what my future held.
The dark ebonyt sky was filled,
With a niveous cloud of gnats
Illuminated by soft gaslight,
Around which they danced.
The swarm brought to my mind,
A ghostly ephemeral vision …
Of the prophetess, now long gone.
I wrote upon some parchment,
What I wished to know from her,
Then with a piece of lace I tied it,
Then laughingly, placed it on her tomb.
(The velleity of a true response,
Was plain for all to see,
I believed not in destiny,
Nor that it applied to me.)
When I went to sleep that night,
I dreamt a wondrous dream …
Of ancient kings and mighty gods
Who once walked proudly the Earth …
I saw a veiled cadaver,
Laying cold on a marble slab
‘Twas that of some noble lady …
Revered and surely dead.
She rose upon her cold marble bed,
Then she looked at me and spoke
That which you’ve written I’ve read …
Now listen to what your future holds
For all I say will be as I’ve said.
Then for a time she sang a song …
‘Twas my life from birth to death …
I know it’s so, now, that I am very old.
Written for Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie – Wordle # 18
Masterfully done Georgia loved it and I loved how you used niveous I wasn’t able to work that one in
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Thanks so much for the compliment and glad you enjoyed the post … the word that gave me the most problems was velleity … seemed to me like it should have been an adverb.
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That was a new word for me as well but I really liked the definition of it, you did a fabulous job
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Thanks … I was about to throw it out the window … 😉
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I live when I can enjoy a great read and learn at the same time…new words to my vocabulary. ´ smiles´ but mostly I live the flow of the story as well the wise ending.
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Thanks … sounds like a great way to live a story to me … new words can be cool, but if they distract, I think I could do without.
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And that’s why I don’t always respond to those prompts
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Yeah … but you can always leave out the stilting words … like Yves did today 😉
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Wonderful poem. And, imaginative use of niveous and velleity. I love the flow, the words/lines, and theme.
I’ve occasionally used the “new to my vocabulary words,” but tend to pick those (in advance sometimes), as the ones I will least worry about. Suppose I should start trying to insert one!
Great job with the wordle!
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Thanks … wordles can be a lot of fun … esp. if they have new words to challenge you … always good to learn something new.
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I’m looking forward to using these wordle words in general conversation. There were certain words I liked/learned that I I had to wait a while to use. Words like “defenestration!”
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I knew that one from Italian believe it or not … rocky politics and corrupt business class.
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Oh dear, I must have misspelt it. The defenestration I was thinking of was to defenestrate — throw someone out the window, lol. But the two go well together — rocky politics and corrupt business class are perfect examples of those to defenestrate, lol
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Oh yes … that’s where it comes from . finestra is window in Italian … common political practice in the past … throw the opposition out the window, literally then, figuratively now.
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Thank you! Makes perfect sense!
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🙂
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