Words are powerful.
They are magic. Why do you think incantations are so important in spell-casting? Words.
They are magic. Depending on how that magic is wielded, they can either create, raise, build and shine, or they can lower, sink, burn and destroy.
The Celts believed fully in the magic of words. Bards were highly trained, highly honoured members of Iron Age Celtic society (as noted by Strabo). There are stories of kings who were satirised and ended up dying for the shame.
It's not so different from today. Bullied kids are killing themselves in alarming numbers. Why? Words.
Words are powerful.
Words are barbs that embed themselves into the flesh, into the heart, into the mind, and they can never be scrubbed clean.
But they are just words! Only words!
So we tell ourselves over and over in an effort to diminish their power. Yet their power remains, and we weep to ourselves, murmuring, "They are only words. Just words."
Though they leave no physical mark, the wounds of words are deep, raw and they never heal. The wounded carry those traumas in silence; the walking dead. The lesions in their soul created by words may claim them still, like a lurking infection or slow spreading poison, unseen by the rest of the world. It may be minutes, or days. It may be years.
Those left behind will scratch their head and wonder what happened.
Words kill.
Yet they are beautiful. Like benign magic wielded kindly, they can make the world a better place. Kindly spoken, words can bring light to the dark, hope to the bleak, joy to the miserable, home to the lost.
Words can build worlds, create heroes from nothing, take people away on adventures; profundity experienced from an armchair or bed.
Never underestimate the potency or words.
Words are magic.
Words are powerful.
Wield that power wisely.