Every writer knows the power that words can have on its readers. Thus, words are selected with great wisdom and care in order to express the precise thing that the writer wants to express, to appeal to the specific emotions the writer wants the reader to feel, and hopefully to impact the reader in some way—to entertain, to change opinions, to share a message or insight, or to educate. Today I will share a poem I wrote many months ago that expresses the value of words and how people use them to affect our lives.
THE POWER OF WORDS
By Randi D. Ward
Words are magical; they carry such power.
They can be sweet as honey or extremely sour.
They can shatter a heart in a second or create instant joy.
They can be so very inspiring or can completely destroy.
Words enable us to communicate.
They reveal feelings of love and of hate.
They can motivate us to do our best
Or cause us to fail an important life test.
An essayist uses words to tell his important theme.
An inventor uses words to describe his future dream.
A teacher uses words to teach her students a fact.
A playwright uses words to show his performers how to act.
Children use words to tell their mothers what they need.
Landscapers use words to indicate how to get rid of a weed.
Contractors use words to tell their crew how to build a house.
Exterminators use words to teach us how to get rid of a mouse.
The uses of words are so varied and forever endless.
Without them communication would be a gigantic mess.
But we must learn to use them in a useful and wise way
To communicate perfectly what we want and need to say.
Randi D. Ward
May 21, 2013
