I . . . used magic words to wake the magic arts. -- Ovid, The Metamorphoses, translated by Horace Gregory The magic word, the mystic fire. -- Sri Aurobindo, Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol (1995) Magical words . . . are a prism of the universe; they reflect, decompose, and recombine all its wonders. The sounds imitate colours, the colours merge into harmony. The rhyme, rich or strange, swift or lingering, is inspired by poetic insight, that su- preme beauty of art and triumph of genius which discovers in nature all secrets close to the human heart. -- Madame de Staël, Corinne, or Italy (1807), translated by Sylvia Raphael (1998) Say a magic word if you have one. -- Bart King, The Big Book of Boy Stuff (2004) Magic words give you another means of taking control of your performance. -- Jeff Galloway, Galloway's Book on Running (2002) Across the land came a magic word When the earth was bare and lonely, And I sit and sing of the joyous spring, For 'twas I who heard, I only! -- Fay Inchfawn, "The Thrush" (1920)