Choose Your Words

by MSS Shakti Parwha Kaur Khalsa of Los Angeles, CA, USA as it appeared in the Summer 1991 Beads of Truth Magazine

Words are weapons
And words are bandages
Words are penicillin
And words are poison

Honor your words
Use your words with honor
For words can cure
Or words can kill

Words are the colors
On the speaker’s palate
Evoking emotion
In the ear of the beholder

Some are dull and some are bright
Some are wrong and some are right
Some ennoble and some degrade
One Word created this creation
… so it was said

Be careful
Be courageous
Be conscious
Be sure
Before you speak –
Will your words kill – or cure?

Words can comfort
Words can enrage
Words can liberate
Or words can cage

Words are hot
And words are cold
Words speak truth
with words, lies are told

Aim your words with extra care
Lasers pierce targets everywhere
Relationships built over many years
One false word dissolves in tears

Words reveal
And words can hide
True identity
Divine inside

Faith in the Word
Dispels all fear
Hold your words gently
Hold your words dear
Be honest, be kind
Make yourself clear

To belittle is common
To uplift is rare
Value your words
Use them with care

Power to speak comes from breath of life
Surgeon’s scalpel or butcher knife
Speak to your soul with respect in place
You’ll speak to others with equal grace