Wordbirds, 77

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.

xiphoid adj.  [ZY-foid]

shaped like a sword

Young Arthur had a stunning dream,

A dream he hoped would soon come true.

He saw a sword all bathed in beam,

A light bizarre—but mostly blue.

And one day, not much later on,

He found that very dreamworld thing.

But when he reached, the sword was gone.

He looked—’twas gone. He’d not be King?

And back at home he told his dad,

Who said, “'Twas just a xiphoid shape

And not a sword—and that's too bad.”

But Arthur soon made his escape

And went in search of what he’d seen.

And spent his life in search extreme.

But then he met the sweet Pauline,*

And found another sort of dream.

*This was Arthur Jones, not the young King Arthur, so, of course, no Guinevere.