D-Minus

Why is it that so many words in our language
Conveying a feeling of gloom
Begin with a D? Just consider “damnation,”
“Dark,” “dreary,” “death,” “dour,” and “doom.”

That’s putting aside all the words with the negative
Prefixes “de,” “dis,” and “dys.”
Yet other tongues borrow from Latin and Greek
And seem much less “D-grading” than this.

What’s more, many insults begin with a D,
Such as “dim,” “dumb,” “dope,” “doofus,” and “dolt.”
Less focused on brains, we have “dastardly,” “dorky,”
And “dweeb.” Does the D sound revolt?

We do have a handful of positive D-words.
Cole Porter put some in a song—
Whose title, alas, uses made-up “de-lovely,”
Which bolsters my point. Am I wrong?