What is in a word?

'What is in a word?' ask many
Is a word ever a stable entity?
Do actions matter or names?
Is ever a word all it claims?

Then we see the effect of one
A word choice can others stun
Into euphoria or despair as the case may be
It often depends on what is perceived.

A poem by Imtiaz Dharker speaks of a person
A rebel to some, a terrorist even,
A martyr to some, a neighbor frightened,
Perhaps one's own son.

The descriptor changed with each perspective,
The words guided readers to be reflective,
But there is also the emphasis
That words capture not the spirit.

Yet each time wars are fought
On whether one is left or right or not,
Whether one deems oneself privileged,
Whether a word a community humiliates.

A film banned, a book burned, a post lost,
A single word, a career foul, a heavy cost.
Yet do words convey just one sense?
Do opposite not reside on the same fence?

The sun sets
The batter sets
The cement sets
And so change sets.

Yet when a word has power immense,
To hurt or uplift sentiments,
It behooves to be judicious
To save, to enrich relations precious.

- Written on 20 March 2018.
- A hurried, unintentional use of a word, 'core', for a team led to debates on hierarchy. Hence...
- Also, if you want to read the poem I refer to bybone of my fav poets, Imtiaz Dharker's The Right Word can be found at http://www.imtiazdharker.com/poems_7-the-right-word