tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38101726008406783492024-03-05T02:39:46.583-05:00365 SonnetsA Canadian teenager's love affair with iambic poetryMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.comBlogger366125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-31479031902682532362011-08-20T19:03:00.000-04:002011-08-20T19:03:13.541-04:00An EpitaphDeep in the earth, beneath unknowing skies,<br />
I rest at last, far past the centuries.<br />
The visitors have long bid their good-byes;<br />
no maidens come to lay their laurel wreaths.<br />
<br />
Though on a summer stroll across the hills<br />a courting couple oft pay their respects:<br />and wishing well with stolen daffodils<br />invite a blessing as they introspect.<br />
<br />
"For love, for truth, for art," engraves the stone:<br />beyond the fateful words no history;<br />and all the joys and sorrows that I'd known<br />are silent to the traveller, wondering.<br />
<br />
But from immortal eulogy begins<br />a second life, reborn to brilliance.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-84337211693794806042011-07-31T14:44:00.001-04:002011-08-20T19:04:32.943-04:00Sonnet CCCLXVI am - too happy on this modest day.<br />
The oxygen owns no unearthly charm;<br />
but as the sun embalms the lucid way,<br />
my wonder greets the breeze upon my arm.<br />
<br />
Bouquets of unrequited smiles prance;<br />
their pirouettes spin aimless on the grass.<br />
Eternities resound their empty dance<br />
as pliant leaves sift through the hourglass.<br />
<br />
I cannot forecast all the grievances<br />
that each covert Tomorrow seems to know.<br />
I cannot cause the Heavens to descend<br />
or pause Fortuna's wheel forever, though:<br />
<br />
As I recall the morsels of this hour,<br />
no mournful day shall ever wield its power.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-9291677700468109732011-07-22T19:18:00.000-04:002011-07-22T19:18:16.707-04:00Sonnet CCCLXIVAlone, amongst the waves, beneath the sun -<br />
I fear I'll drown; I've waded out too far.<br />
The seabirds cackle in a frenzied bunch,<br />
detecting noontime spoils from afar.<br />
So far from land, so far from everyone,<br />I cannot say why I feel merrier:<br />my cheeks exude a strange vermillion,<br />my eyes ablaze with some unearthly star.<br />
<br />
Perhaps I do not need an audience:<br />if I should whisper some aquatic rhyme,<br />the simple joy of it is bountiful -<br />if one should pause to note its loveliness,<br />then it is Art; if one should call it crime,<br />then I am mad as any starving gull.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-33362431632196445822011-07-08T20:49:00.001-04:002014-10-31T22:49:22.571-04:00Sonnet CCCLXIII<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Unwary laughter stirs the languid air:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The weary robins interlace their yawns</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Unbidden breezes charm our tickled arms,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">meandering toward the heaven's stair.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The shadows of the trees are barely there;<br />the limpid flowers rest their lurid shawls -<br />In viscous resignation, stilled and calm,<br />Warm oxygen absorbs our every care.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">As Artemis is dying all the clouds,<br />Apollo closes up his pearly gate.<br />The final sun-kissed photons scintillate<br />as conversation takes its final bow:<br />these summer hours sedately dissipate,<br />and Mother Nature packs away her day.</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-32051071508685029892011-06-01T15:48:00.001-04:002011-06-13T08:54:55.752-04:00Sonnet CCCLXII<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">A picnic we could have on ruby Mars,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">upon a single orb of crimsonness – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">surrounded by the solvent swaddling us,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">delighted by the swarms of smiling stars?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">If universes sang in students’ jars – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">perhaps, perhaps! If dreams and fables lived</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">in every Erlenmeyer flask and dish,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">how many poets would be turned to Bards?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Some silver snow bewitches ether skies</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">in Lotus Lands designed for gleaming eyes!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">A foreign galaxy <i>must</i> beckon tales,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">beyond the formulae and recipes – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">it <i>must</i> transcend the ordinary Jail!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But is it only hapless chemistry?</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-26378377148005195272011-05-06T17:37:00.000-04:002011-06-12T14:06:16.369-04:00Sonnet CCCLXI<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Interrogate the robins – ask them why –</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">some sudden sunshine peeks between the leaves.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Familiar laughter claims the startled ear</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and torpid languor confiscates the eyes – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">We spent such carefree days beneath the skies</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and when the rain had interspersed between,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">we hid like naughty children, impishly</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and laughed and laughed and laughed away the sky –</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Relinquish you – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">beyond my feeble grasp,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">released beyond my grandiose love at last,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">such scenes we’ll see again our separate ways?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Rekindled in my solitary view</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">at all familiar turns I think of you – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">do you remember me at all today?</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-77665296809712007492011-04-02T12:27:00.000-04:002011-04-02T12:27:58.348-04:00Sonnet CCCLX<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But in my sad seclusion, saw the sky;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">some strange, Immortal sunlight beckoned me:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">a fragile wonder touched my everything – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I felt a pensive calm, not knowing why.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">And in that humble instant, dropped my pride;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">without my strength and inner harmony,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">searched – desperate for a Higher sympathy.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But wondered at my strange internal lies – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">uncertain of the warmth and bliss I felt.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">For did I, in my lonesome emptiness,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">contrive to forge imagined happiness – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">or did my cold self-adequacy melt – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">thus drawing me toward the kind Above,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">which waited for the day I needed</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"> – Love?</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-7854434094551166262011-03-18T15:51:00.000-04:002011-03-18T15:51:39.338-04:00Sonnet CCCLIX<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Disintegrating into rippling shards:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">the crystal earth, at once, is liquefied.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">A subtle smile of sunshine at my side,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">an unexpected twinkling from afar –</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and thus, my heart, as well, is eased apart.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">And all the tantrums and those icy eyes</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">seem silly…all these heartless thoughts, a lie?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Dissolved, at once, beneath the burning stars.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Some unknown bliss, some unrequited plant</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">shoots, surging, unpredicted, from the core –</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and could I wish it stay here evermore?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The scent of joy unfolds beyond its hand – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and would these seconds last for centuries,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">such simple days could paint eternities.</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-61204270798584544582011-02-23T14:16:00.001-05:002011-09-28T21:40:35.262-04:00Sonnet CCCLVIII<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">A pair of crows stood, foolish, chatting!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Resplendent in the winter sun.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Was gossip ever idler, waiting?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Impending doom a distant drum!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">And now my car comes crashing, wildly!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The earthworms tremble under, blindly…</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The semi-frozen earth grows pale!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Vibrations thunder in the air!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But – ah! They flee too quickly – ninjas!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Oh, stealthy as the flashing winds…</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Their flight igniting oxygen,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">their wings opposing sluggish minutes!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But what a tale to tell at lunch!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><i>"We only nearly dodged that one!"</i></span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-53513412908507016082011-02-08T21:11:00.000-05:002011-02-08T21:11:23.119-05:00Sonnet CCCLVII<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The autumn’s infantry – how mighty!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Virile the plumes of gold arise – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">exulted by each twig and berry.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The jealous, torpid summer dies!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">No greater adversary vanquished,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">no stronger rival fought and finished!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But how could pale and waxy sands,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and softest sunlights, light and wan – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">compare! Our wispy, pallid present – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">with haughty triumph? How we’ve aged,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">ah, sea of frozen crystal days…</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">preserved, canopic fossil – aimless – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">though in those sure and martial times</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">we stood incomparable, sublime!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-75441024551162627682011-01-28T21:32:00.000-05:002011-01-28T21:32:39.714-05:00Sonnet CCCLVI<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">At last I breathe again, at last I live:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">perhaps my loneliness was only relative.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I once desired love – your company – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">but I shall fill these hours easily.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">From time-worn, weathered eyes erasing you,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">replacing such projected joys with truth,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I live once more in grounded, present time</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">unbound of empty fantasy and rhyme.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I roam the changing earth, but pondering</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">as drifting, migrant snow joins, flight by flight – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and neither wind nor I know anything</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">of where we go from here and when or why – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">but all we know is that we still exist,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">if still unseen – at least by loyal sunshine kissed. </span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-19354167501642584002011-01-21T10:54:00.000-05:002011-01-21T10:54:53.868-05:00Sonnet CCCLV<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">What strange machines! I stand in dumbstruck awe.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">They dig so monstrously, with scrawny claws;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">petite – but mighty, steely, debonair.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Grey, prickly feathers splice the pungent air</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and scores of them bob stably in the sea,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">a half-assembled army, oddly free.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">In syncopated rhythms, side by side,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">now trading spots for newer soil to try,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">then scurrying, returning now, for more –</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">acknowledging a neighbour’s small domain</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">then stealing it – and there erupts a war!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Unmoved, the others plod along their way,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">but hesitant, I stay awhile myself,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">escaping my routine for theirs, for them.</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-66979345819674841222011-01-13T18:24:00.000-05:002011-01-13T18:24:21.388-05:00Sonnet CCCLIV<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">My geese – my ever-faithful geese – have left!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I watched the emptied autumn sky, bereft,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and watched them steal away to tropic lands…</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">oh how’ll they’ll love those toasty, sun-baked sands!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I cursed their infidelity that day</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and bent upon my lonesome, grumpy way – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I’d find some other loyal friend to love!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But everyday I’d check the skies above</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and find them vacant as my mournful heart.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Then suddenly – in shy, reluctant March</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">they squawked once more upon the melting moors!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">And I – my injured self! – ignored their lure</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">(with great contempt) – and sauntered, haughty, off – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">remarking how we’ve changed – and how they’ve not!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-42789995178334483952011-01-10T18:15:00.002-05:002011-01-10T18:17:33.261-05:00Sonnet CCCLIII<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Epiphany? My love is shorn to shreds!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">A guileless love beguiled by devious ends…</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Dark, bitter grief ignites my inner core – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I cannot love this monster anymore!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">And yet – I tremble at each docile smile!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I loved the clever traitor all the while.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I now regret that fatal day, when first – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">a charming word deceived my artless thirst.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">And yes, I still feel dearly for the fiend;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">a foolish heart does not know want from need.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Ignore the ingrate! Flee the treachery!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But how we still dream fondly, stubbornly;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">demanding vengeance for our suffering,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">yet far too weak to do the injuring.</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-41235069952558209882011-01-05T19:13:00.000-05:002011-01-05T19:13:19.346-05:00Sonnet CCCLII<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But how those crystal eyes stared back at me!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Grand ecstasies sparked through my soul and mind;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">disarming and distracting harmonies</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">obscured my scrutiny and made me blind.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I waited, waited - <i>how </i>I darkly pined!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Some desperate, thrilling, growing hopefulness</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">turned ravenous at every sound and sight – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">then soon fell, plummeting to hopelessness.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">And I remember - stubbornly - with bliss -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">at how each word and stolen brush and glance</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">drew joyously, exultant like a kiss,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">upon my steely thoughts…as if to dance.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But not today – there still remains a space -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">where cruel, blue plastic mocks your worthy place.</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-88617933397079883772010-12-31T20:10:00.001-05:002010-12-31T20:11:51.504-05:00Sonnet CCCLI<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The dying afternoon, diaphanous –</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">how young October smiled upon my cheek!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Then through a stretch of sun-filled oxygen</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">your voice and eyes called blithely out to me!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">We walked, our eyes upon the skyward seas,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">our eyes delirious with shifting skies</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">as clouds subsided to obscurity</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">in grandiose swashes, gold and pastel dyed.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I could have stayed forever at your side,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">evaporated honey everywhere;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">but as our paths diverged in weary light</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I drowned into intoxicating air.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I paused – in step – exultant, yet forlorn</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and as the leaves spun round, I stood</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"> - transformed!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-75035234301872408562010-12-05T17:23:00.000-05:002010-12-05T17:23:42.492-05:00Sonnet CCCL<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I stand, exhilarated, on the hills – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I burn with new and sprightly inner fire!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The winds of autumn cannot bind my will:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">my yearning glance ignites with strange desire!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">With fierce furore, these eyes will never tire – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I search the turbid skies for signs of warmth.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Beloved summer! Ever-tuneful lyre!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">To leap into those warm and loving arms!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I’ll wait, unloved, forlorn, as lovers are,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">but only when your promise sings again</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">will you return, melodious and warm – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and only then will carefree folly reign,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">my foolish heart revived once more to mirth.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">And only then will blossoms fill the earth!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-74655316013652858172010-11-02T17:26:00.002-04:002010-11-17T19:36:56.137-05:00Sonnet CCCXLIX<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The world, disfigured through the window pane,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">appears to me a foreign, foreign beast.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I almost couldn’t say it was the same;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">it once knew sharp and clear geometry.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Instead, some other logic speaks to me,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">where lines melt wholly into endless flight</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and light splits, starlit, into ecstasy;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">untimely rains play freely with the eyes</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and transient images dance swiftly by.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Emerging from the depths of rainy mess</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">she enters into view one final time,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">delineated clearly from the rest.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But soon, she joins the liquid world out there,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">obscured, forgotten – blurred beyond repair.</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-44813926186323688312010-09-20T19:25:00.001-04:002010-09-20T19:33:16.137-04:00Sonnet CCCXLVIII<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The trembling leaves fly quicker as I pass -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">If I could snatch one for myself, I would!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But could that transient oak leaf ever last?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">If I could slice a piece of sun, I would!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">One sliver, glowing like a seraph could,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">As ardent as a lover’s keen farewell!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">If I could steal the blazing sky, I would!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I’d need the ocean’s blue, expensive well,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But where the clouds should go, I cannot tell!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Alas, the summer cannot flee the fate</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">six ancient pomegranate seeds have dealt:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">her stay is brief, but dazzles everyday</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">before her burnished sun-crown, songbird calls;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">her grass perfumes – her sunsets – yield to fall!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-5404588681712011912010-09-12T15:12:00.001-04:002010-09-12T15:12:04.088-04:00Sonnet CCCXLVII<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">A squirrel, dark as night but bright as day,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">sits waiting on the sidewalk patiently.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">He starts upon the short but daunting way -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">the cars do not relent, but nor does he...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">he races by before they even see!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The grass awaits - and soon enough, it's his.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">He searches all he wants for nut and seed</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and nibbles on the spot, the scamp he is!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">No passer-by could steal away his bliss -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">warm sun paints spots upon the vagabond</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and leaves descend upon him for a kiss!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I fear I'll scare him, but I carry on -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">he knows no fear! He looks me in the eye -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and boldly, boldly dares me pass him by!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-79813457984371676902010-09-04T08:47:00.000-04:002010-09-04T08:47:00.853-04:00Sonnet CCCXLVI<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The leaves, already gilt untimely gold,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">declare that cherished summer fleets too soon!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The winds, already prematurely cold;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">the sun, already mild at half past noon -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Ah, summer seemed as young as sprightly June!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Too quick the torrid dream flits sadly by!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Too quick I fear the changes steal my youth,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">as if my sylvan tresses too, ignite</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and litter moor and dale and precipice –</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">as if they had no other life to lead!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">As if a heart were steadfast like the skies</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and thoughts were constant as the worthy trees;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">as if a futile wish for summer lives – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">as if autumnal minds could answer it!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-39505350018752559562010-08-31T16:52:00.001-04:002010-11-17T19:33:28.295-05:00Sonnet CCCXLV<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Demonic monsters of the turbid sky,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">guffawing with your gaping mouths like beasts -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">away, away! Take wing and swiftly fly!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Regarding jealously at all who feast</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and clammoring for every greasy piece -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">away, away! We steadfastfully ignore!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The children, fearful, hurry to their seats,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">or else combat the grey-specked, greedy hoard.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">For such disturbance, there is no reward!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Mind quickly to yourselves, o scavengers...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">There's scraps upon the ground - don't ask for more.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Your gluttony grows only angrier;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">the laden tables are your battlegrounds -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">away, away! Show mercy this time round!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-20373750316429190272010-08-28T09:02:00.005-04:002010-08-28T09:02:00.382-04:00Sonnet CCCXLIV<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Upon the hills that roll up to the sky</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">there lies a lone and steadfast aspen tree.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Come fall, the leaves glint gold and mutely fly</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">alighting on the rippling grassy sea.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">With envy have I wished to be that free,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">to voyage recklessly upon the air;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But never could I steer my destiny – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">that endless flight would quickly bring despair.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Oh, what an empty life to live and share,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">a one of many empty clones.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Then what a joy to be that tree up there;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">But what unhappiness to be alone,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">so mighty, yet forlorn upon the hill – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">How better yet to be a human still!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-90355241315119992512010-08-18T10:41:00.001-04:002010-08-18T10:42:43.711-04:00Sonnet CCCXLIII<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">And afternoon glints faintly on the leaves,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">As if that gold were all too rich to lend.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">The seagulls cackle, joyous, from the eaves – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">some avian joke I cannot comprehend.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">One eyes me beadily – did I offend?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I nibble on a snack I saved from noon</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">and watch his greed evolve to merriment.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">He squawks and screams, the mad bird like a loon,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">expecting some reward for such a tune.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I turn away, but crumbs fall to the ground.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I watch, dismayed, to see him claim the boon.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">Devouring quickly, flapping all around,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">I watch him with amusement as he eats – </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #783f04;">As if the thief deserved such stolen treats!</span>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810172600840678349.post-91351070294197938632010-08-05T16:44:00.001-04:002010-08-05T16:47:26.506-04:00Sonnet CCCXLII<div style="color: #783f04;">The moths flit through the sea, ephemeral;</div><div style="color: #783f04;">each emerald wave progresses quicker past.</div><div style="color: #783f04;">The sky is blushing like a love-struck girl</div><div style="color: #783f04;">and dreams, her troubled forehead overcast.</div><div style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #783f04;">The youth of day, her liveliness fade fast;</div><div style="color: #783f04;">great mountains frame the twilight of her face.</div><div style="color: #783f04;">Her blazing iris tumbles shut at last:</div><div style="color: #783f04;">the birds come flying for one last embrace,</div><div style="color: #783f04;">imparting to that cheek an everlasting grace.</div><div style="color: #783f04;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #783f04;">When laid to rest, surrounded by the earth,</div><div style="color: #783f04;">unseeing eyes shall still observe this place.</div><div style="color: #783f04;">The clouds forever sail this planet’s girth - </div><div style="color: #783f04;">No death could steal them from my feeble grasp;</div><div style="color: #783f04;">and evermore the grass shall faintly rasp!</div>Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17307885326841557910noreply@blogger.com2