English

To gild the lily

| Masuma

To gild the lily is to attempt, foolishly, to try and improve on something which is already perfect. Shakespeare, who mentions the lily in his works on more than two dozen occasions, wrote: ‘To gild refined gold, to paint the lily. .. is wasteful and ridiculous excess.’ The white lily, which is the emblem of majesty and purity, is one of the oldest and most beautiful flowers in existence and, therefore, without need of any further addition of superfluous ornament.

Example in use: 

You don’t need to wear so much makeup; it’s just gilding the lily.

Adding crystals and glitter to the hand-painted wedding invitations was really gilding the lily – they were already elegant on their own.

Their relationship was perfect as it was; trying to plan elaborate date nights felt like gilding the lily.

The garden was stunning in its simplicity – installing fancy fountains would just be gilding the lily.

The chef’s decision to add gold leaf to the perfectly cooked steak was merely gilding the lily.

#idioms #english #gildThelily #gild #lily #1111

Unity

| Masuma

My very cute niece Arwa from India, reached out to me with a cute request last night, she wanted me to write a poem for her on Unity… and so…

𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴
𝘋𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘴

𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮

𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦
𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵

𝘔𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴
𝘗𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴

𝘕𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥,
𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳
𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵
𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵
𝘵𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯
𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴

𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘥𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮
𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘮 𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘯
𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘻𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱

𝘚𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥, 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦
𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴,
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘥

Masuma kothari

I wrote the above keeping in mind her age, to keep it easy to understand…it worked, she got it in her first read!

after that it got a little more interesting when I started using generative AI to build some visuals to go along with my recitation.. sharing fun!

Pother

| Masuma

Pother


Example use in sentence:

  • Young children tend to cause a pother when they
    want or need attention from their parents
  • The bird itself seems to be falling, breaking
    asunder into bits of itself, when it hits the ground, it
    will be nothing but a tumble of spiky spars and a
    pother of wind-blown feathers.
  • If you can give no help, spare drowning me with
    your pother.
  • Don’t get yourself all into a pother, take your time
    and you’ll find your keys.

Waft

| Masuma
Waft

ᗯᗩᖴT

Example Use in Sentence:

The scent of climbing roses wafts through the window.

The music from the party wafts out to the terrace.

The sound of his recitation waft across the house.

A slight breeze rose, wafting the heavy scent of flowers past her.

Open air markets are redolent with spices, while scents of fresh-baked croissants and cafe au lait waft from nearby sidewalk cafes.

Brotherhood

| Masuma

Says a bird 

Where should she be

In the juggle of

Building her nest

She cages to few trees

Soon once a tender fruit

Drops on her beak

And That taste she discovers

to be a gift for the weak

To be nourished by some more

She gathers strength for a find

and assembles her collect

From her own lifts and flights

though the match for that taste

She still does not find

seeking from the vast

Her struggles tunes her 

into being more refined

all those moments of unrest

Then Begins to beautifully shine 

She returns to the same branch

With a heart without any yearn

To devote a little happy thanks

For the passion she had earned

As she wonders through her flops 

That tender fruit again drops 

And to her surprise 

She finds many like her

flying by over her in a line

They carried that fruit

she longed all that time,

So she followed them, 

For a pretty long while

To finally reach

That bliss of all time

On her way back to her nest

With huge plucks for her own

She drops bits of her fruit

And very Happily as she could

For all that she knew

There is

Immense Beauty 

in brotherhood

-masuma