"I'm going to speak my mind because I have nothing to lose."--S.I. Hayakawa
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Thursday, April 28, 2011

On the Semicolon

;

Behold the mighty semicolon,
Undaunted, audacious hieroglyphic symbol,
Thy name implies a power halved—
Neither period stop nor comma pause,
But something in between
And rarely understood.
Power halved?
Ah, thy power to strike fear in the heart
of one who dared employ thee
Ranked first amongst thy kindred marks.
Generations feared thee;
generations avoided thee.


Behold the mighty semicolon!
Once upon the slippery slope,
falling inexorably into dis-use,
Rather than mis-use.
Fear not, oh semicolon.
Now is thy time upon the stage.
Thou will not disappear into obscurity,
But live in perpetuity
As a sly and winking emoticon.

;)



2 comments:

  1. I'm glad the semicolon won't fade away in the near future, even if it's use is demoted to that of a lowly but entertaining emoticon.

    By the way, your verse is delightful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's bad to start giggling whilst one is brushing one's teeth; causes dribbles.

    ReplyDelete