Wordbirds, 79

AT LAST—We’ve now commenced our third—and final—journey through Webster’s 3rd. This time, I’m picking a word near the middle of each entry for each letter—a word that interests me for some reason or a word I’d not ever known before—and surrounding it with a frayed coat of doggerel.

Words that flew into my life from Webster’s 3^rd.

zimocca noun

a rather harsh commercial sponge

“The dyer’s hand,” so says the Bard,

Becomes so very deeply stained

That it is then supremely hard

To cleanse it. This I well explained

To that sad dyer whose wrist and hand

Were deeply dark. He couldn’t bear

The thought that he now bore a brand

Of his profession. “Isn’t fair!”

He cried so dismally. He tried

Some remedies—like special soap.

But that was fruitless. So he cried.

Whate’er he tried, the answer, “Nope!”

But then he tried zimocca, and

He was so firm in his belief

That even when his skinless hand

Emerged, he felt such pure relief!