Expanding my Vocabulary

As a child I was taught a good vocabulary was a tool essential

So I tried to learn new words in a manner intentional

I wrote often, and tried my best to use

The most esoteric words that I could choose

The result was that my writing appeared

Immature, comical, and often weird

But my vocabulary I was determined to expand

More of the world I thought I would understand

If I knew more words, especially in the language of progress

A mastery of English would be instrumental in my success

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Over the years my vocabulary has static stayed

The inability to remember new words often leaves me dismayed

My dwindling memory needs to accommodate

New scientific terms, and its capacity seems inadequate

To learn new words in English, therefore

I do not search the meanings of new words anymore

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Sometimes the deeply ingrained urge to learn words new

Takes over, and I try to find synonyms few

For common words, hoping that they stay

In my increasing unreliable memory in some way