An Unassuming Lock Poem by Douglas Scotney

Both 'castle' and 'lock'
in German are Schloss.

Had Germans called their 'castle'
the Krippe or the Wiege,
the 'cot' or the 'cradle',
for how it protects,
when the 'lock' came along
(after schliessen 'to close' and 'to shut') ,
the 'lock' could have had Schloss to itself.

Riegel is 'bolt'.

If the new invention
had to distinguish itself
from the 'bolt',
it could have prefixed Adler to Riegel,
(Adler meaning 'eagle') .

Unassumingly,
it could have prefixed Schlussel, 'key',
and called itself Schlusselriegel.