The big ones

Most people who deal in words 

don't have much faith in them 

and I am no exception — 

especially the big ones 

like Happy and Love and Honest and Strong. 

They are too elusive and far too relative 

when you compare them to sharp, mean little words 

like Punk and Cheap and Phony. 

I feel at home with these, 

because they are scrawny and easy to pin, 

but the big ones are tough 

and it takes either a priest or a fool 

to use them with any confidence.
            Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary