Rare Beauty...or proof that I really am a word nerd

Rare Beauty

And Madam, to you his…Majesty, presents…a dozen of Frogs pulchritudinous, of Value inestimable, which being dry'd, beaten to a Powder, and drunk in Mornings Dew, have Vertue to renew Youth and Beauty.

1706 T. D'URFEY Wonders in Sun III. i. 45

“What is your favorite word, poet girl?”

he asks.

And I think

on this for days. Roll succulent syllables

of various girths

over my tongue like firm green peas, tasting

the sweet,

peering through them in late

afternoon sunlight.

I decide on pulchritudinous.

It rumbles around my mouth

like hot marbles and then,

just before I get too

familiar,

slithers

over

my

lips

and is gone.

by HMMooreNiver