SAT Vocabulary (Poetry)

Can one rekindle Beauty?
After its acclaimed name lies
etched on a stone?
Venerated Beauty, resting in dirt,
who vindicates all sinners and intoxicates
all souls.
How eternal is your onerous slumber?
Nefarious flowers wilt near your site;
Impetuous tulips, fragrant,
hugging your form.

The mourners have arrived
murmuring
praying
marching assiduously, sedulously.
Do their woeful words
pierce
your ears?
Do they galvanize your soul?
Disreputable men wait for you
at the gate.
They, too, extol your presence and are
witness to your
magnanimous and unstinting acts.
The tears of the staunch followers
stain
the dirt.

Outside the site,
they reproach such devotion,
but they do not
know why Beauty must be the
superlative.

Those by the gate
have understood this esoteric truth
and are not complacent
with any replacement.
And none may know how their convoluted orisons
mean nothing more than
a desperate plead
against all memento mori.

Have we all lost some sort of feeling?

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1. reproach: blame, scold
2. esoteric: known to few
3. complacent: satisfied
4. convoluted: intricate
5. kindle: intricate
6. acclaim: approve, praise
7. venerated: respected
8. vindicate: absolve of blame
9. onerous: burdensome
10. nefarious: vicious
11. impetuous: hasty
12. assiduously: hardworking
13. sedulous: diligent
14. galvanize: energize
15. disreputable: shameful
16. extol: to praise highly
17. magnanimous: generous
18. unstinting: not holding back
19. staunch: devoted to