Dingo (after Judith Wright) Edit 2

[just mercedes]

What a beautiful moment I've had here.

Try "riddle." It means what you want it to. I think . . .

"Riddle" is like "quiver." Its meanings sound from wholly different sources, but have a curious symmetry. Here, one source is raedels, meaning, to conjecture, and later, to guess at a verbal puzzle. The other is hridder, a bowl with holes in it, used for separating things. So, the symmetry is between a straining tool with holes in it and a verbal puzzle. Both relate to notions of complete incompleteness, things through which a limited amount of illumination may pass.

See: http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=Riddle, particularly the second definition, the "riddle (v1)," ""perforate with many holes," 1817 (implied in riddled), earlier "sift" (early 13c.), from Middle English ridelle "coarse sieve," from late Old English hriddel "sieve," altered by dissimilation from Old English hridder "sieve" (see riddle (n.2))."

I don't know how to crit this, but I'll try, and if my offline efforts yield any fruit, I'll post them. This is excellence itself, and well done.

Thanks Crow - yes, 'riddled' fits. I'd be happy to read anything you may write.