- Published on
(A proofreader's note about “forbidding” and “forbidden”)
“Forbidding” and “forbidden” share a parent in “forbid,”
From whom they take the notion of commanding as they go;
“Forbid” will mean to hinder or to order strong against,
Command delivered actually or as the end would show.
Synonymous with “outlaw” and “prohibit” and “enjoin”
And likewise unto “interdict” or “block” or “ban” to boot,
“Forbid” can take the meaning of such orders in effect,
Its taller children given thus more senses at their root.
So think then of “forbidding” as just “tending to forbid,”
Inclusive though of “menacing” and “threatening” and “grim.”
“Forbidden,” the descriptor of the object of “forbid,”
Identifies the item there commanded as too dim.
“Free climbing on the tower was forbidden by the school,
But Alex and his pals believed surmounting would be cool.
The route was not forbidding but the goal an envied jewel
Since 'master the forbidden' was for them a special rule.”
“Forbidding” and “forbidden” share a parent in “forbid,”
From whom they take the notion of commanding as they go;
“Forbid” will mean to hinder or to order strong against,
Command delivered actually or as the end would show.
Synonymous with “outlaw” and “prohibit” and “enjoin”
And likewise unto “interdict” or “block” or “ban” to boot,
“Forbid” can take the meaning of such orders in effect,
Its taller children given thus more senses at their root.
So think then of “forbidding” as just “tending to forbid,”
Inclusive though of “menacing” and “threatening” and “grim.”
“Forbidden,” the descriptor of the object of “forbid,”
Identifies the item there commanded as too dim.
“Free climbing on the tower was forbidden by the school,
But Alex and his pals believed surmounting would be cool.
The route was not forbidding but the goal an envied jewel
Since 'master the forbidden' was for them a special rule.”