Sonnet XXIII

Contraption in my mouth, I hate you so.
You bring me shameful strife and pain and woe.
My swollen gums and yellowed teeth cannot
Compare with joy that braceless teeth can bring.

Expensive though you are, all claim you mend
The problems of the teeth. All recommend.
But ah! Why should I care? You hurt me so!
To them I say, “Just let me free, at once!”

Alas, the wait will still take many days.
And slowly days do pass, the price one pays
For straightened teeth I once had in my youth.
And yet I’m still enslaved to metal fads.

I’d rather die with crooked teeth than straight
Because I at least I wouldn’t have this fate.