Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Sound and Sense, 2-70


Time for more instances of the homophone: a word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not, as heir and air.

1. mewl (verb): to whimper
2. mule (noun): a hybrid between a horse and a donkey; a very stubborn person; a drug smuggler; a shoe or slipper without quarter or heel strap

A baby, he was wont to mewl
In comfort in his nurse’s arms.
A boy, he longed to own a mule
He grew up on some family farms.

An adolescent—such a mule!—
He would not listen to his folks.
A man, he knew he’d been a fool
To scorn his parents’ silly jokes.

A middle-ager, kids in school,
He erred (he didn’t like to fail).
He carried drugs—he was a mule
And ended up in county jail.

An elder man, he changed his ways—
Rejecting all his crimes and sins.
And so for all remaining days
His losses were transformed to wins.

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