Forgotten Words
A playful and densely linguistic poem about the resurrection of forgotten words. Drawing on archaic, obscure and invented language, the poem explores how words can disappear into history only to be rediscovered, reshaped and given new life through poetry.
Deep in the hibernacle, wyrda fades,
In silence, extinct recrudescence in time,
Struthious letters in archaic shades,
Fōstrian meanings, past their prime,
Swept up in a maelstrom, but not entombed,
This cockalorum, a bayard bold,
Writes on tenterhooks a tale unmoored,
Echoes overmused, in darkness thrown.
Rambunctious pen, in restless play,
Durkling close in malverstition’s gloom.
An idea sprung from God made clay,
Spuddling in the past, dead words reborn.
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