It’s Poetry Friday!
Our host is Michelle Kogan
at MoreArt4All
Join us!
If you have not dipped your toe into this gorgeous “spell book” by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, you are missing true magic. It is not new (2017) but its impetus is no less relevant.
Each year, the dictionary-gods feel compelled to drop certain words and add others (as though the cosmos cannot hold all the words?). THE LOST WORDS celebrates twenty of them that were dropped– words like bluebell, dandelion heron, and willow. The words that were added: blog, broadband, cut-and-paste… Hmm… see the irony here?
The outdoor and the natural displaced by the indoor and the virtual. And yet, who or what fits better together than childhood and the natural world?
And so, I was inspired…
Sapwood
Sweetly selfing xylem, sleeping beneath cambium, sugaring life, seeding joy.
Alburnum awakened– blood of the young– light, softer, lacking dark deposits that leave their marks later.
Pipeline of hope. Pure perspective, a page unwritten in a paradise of innocence.
Water the world with wide-eyed wonder, root and leaf, roaring reach.
Open-hearted offering –companioning creation– to
Older rings drained of vitality, whose hearts are hardened.
Delight dances in young life.
Wishing you
peace, joy,
and time
for
lost words!
pictures and poem
©2025, Patricia J. Franz
Patricia Franz writes picture books and poetry. She believes children, dogs, and sourdough have a lot to teach us about life, joy, and wonder. She has raised two boys, four dogs, and holds a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on children’s spirituality. Patricia, her husband, her Bernese Mountain dog, Bonny, and her sourdough starter split their time between the Arizona desert and the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
So glad you shared that book with us today! I just LOVE Jackie Morris’s art wherever I find it, and we are certainly becoming nature-blind with the loss of all those words. Did you hear that Merriam-Webster’s “word of the year” was “slop” (as in AI-generated content)? We need to “sugar life” to combat all that slop!
Patricia, The Lost Words is a beautiful book. I have a copy that I adore and pull it out on occasion. I love how your poem captures “sugaring life” of the sapling and a delightful walk with a grandchild. Priceless.
Love your alliteration, Patricia. And then, as if the poem weren’t beautiful enough, the picture of your son and grandson stole my heart – “pipeline of hope,” “wide-eyed wonder,” “delight.”
Yes, I have that book of Lost Words, Patricia, and wonder what they would add now, years later? Or perhaps I don’t want to know. I love your acrostic, especially “Water the world. . .” Wishing it to be so! Happy Holidays!
Lovely acrostic, enjoyed reading it aloud! I’ve glanced through Lost Words before and need to read it again. While it is interesting to see how the English language changes as a dynamic entity, it is sad to see words from nature dropped from the dictionary. Bluebell and willow? Seriously?
Ahhhhhh, I love the beauty of these words. I do have ‘The Lost Words’ as an audio book. But, I think this is one to get in print. I will look for it. Thank you for adding so many beautiful layers of tree life in this poem. Trees really are our friends. I find more comfort in their companionship every year I live.
I am stunned by the words that were dropped! Oh. My. Goodness.
I love the line, “Water the world with wide-eyed wonder, root and leaf, roaring reach.”
Wow, a book of lost words? I am in. Going to get that one. If they are as beautiful as the ones shared, we need to use those lost orphans in our work! Your poem is lovely. Just the right amount of alliteration in each line to sound lyrical and not like a tongue twister. Well done!
Patricia, words are essential but dropping those that drape the landscape seems a shame. The ending of your poem fills my heart and your photo certifies that nature brings delight. Love this line, Delight dances in young life. May your holidays be filled with the energy of your big and little ones.
How can they drop willow, doesn’t make sense… And I also love the line that Karen mentioned, “Water the world with wide-eyed wonder, root and leaf, roaring reach.” Full of wonder and more. Thanks Patricia and Happy Holidays to you and your family!
I adore that book! You honored it well with your poem. And now I think I need to get it out and spend time with it today during our homemade books-from-our-stacks Jólabókaflóð!