"Composed"

       Frank Gehry has a new building in Paris, and a critic yesterday described it as "eager to look...composed."

       It made me think of the wonderful malleability of language.  "Composed."  You start with "put" or "placed" (posed) and "together" (com), and you can end up with

            
"To make or create by putting together parts or elements.  To create or produce (a literary or musical piece).   To arrange aesthetically or artistically.  To make (oneself) calm or tranquil.  To arrange or set (type or matter to be printed)."  (AHD)


All this from "put together." 

       In  a letter recently to a relative about a dear cousin who died, I could say, "Some have their mental makeup with them so completely till the end. . .and Shirley was able to compose herself and compose indeed her life. . .to the end."