stanch

stanch - verb - to stop the flowing of; to check in its course

cryptic

cryptic - adj - Mysterious in meaning; puzzling; ambiguous.

I have nothing to say about today's word, so I'll put in a plug for Edgar Lee Masters's "Spoon River Anthology," which is notable for, among other things, being one of the few poetry books that was a national bestseller, and which continues to sell today. It's a series autobiographical epitaphs for the people of Spoon River, a fictitious Illinois town. Here are two of my favorites:

Emily Sparks

Where is my boy, my boy—
In what far part of the world?
The boy I loved best of all in the school?—
I, the teacher, the old maid, the virgin heart,
Who made them all my children.
Did I know my boy aright,
Thinking of him as spirit aflame,
Active, ever aspiring?
Oh, boy, boy, for whom I prayed and prayed
In many a watchful hour at night,
Do you remember the letter I wrote you
Of the beautiful love of Christ?
And whether you ever took it or not,
My boy, wherever you are,
Work for your soul’s sake,
That all the clay of you, all of the dross of you,
May yield to the fire of you,
Till the fire is nothing but light!...
Nothing but light!

Knowlt Hoheimer

I WAS the first fruits of the battle of Missionary Ridge.
When I felt the bullet enter my heart
I wished I had staid at home and gone to jail
For stealing the hogs of Curl Trenary,
Instead of running away and joining the army.
Rather a thousand times the country jail
Than to lie under this marble figure with wings,
And this granite pedestal
Bearing the words, ”Pro Patria.”
What do they mean, anyway?

(Notes: The Battle of Missionary Ridge outside Chattanooga, Tennessee, was fought between Union forces commanded by Major General Ulysses S Grant and Confederate forces commanded by General Braxton Bragg. "Pro patria" means "for country;" it comes from a line by the Roman poet Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65 BC - 8 BC]: "Dulce et decorum pro patria mori est [It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country].")