Sonnet CCCXL

Attired richly – handsome ship, where to?

The grandest feasts where held for all the crew,

the Kingdom’s King and Queen have visited.

A garland circled every maiden’s head –

the skies were never bluer on that day!

We once knew love, we once had known the way,

but now we sail, forgotten, and alone.

By fog obscured, by raging rainstorms blown,

we have no end to seek and no return.

The ocean looms at every futile turn

yet hopelessly we search for sight of land.

We curse the weather’s fiercely bitter hand

and suffer in our salty carousel,

remembering a time we knew ourselves.

Sonnet CCCXXXIX

A thousand voices carolling,

Each shaded by the canopies of spring:

So often have I heard their charming song,

Not knowing where their tiny hearts belong!

I’ve sought the secret of the stony skies,

But never have I found that hidden prize.

Though dare I say they blush a brighter blue

Whenever their beloved trills a tune!

The grass has glowed with jealous emerald;

The sun has shone with gentler, warmer gold.

As if the world would bend toward their whims

At just one ringing note of songbird hymns!

There’s magic pouring from these feathered throats –

Have brighter seraphs ever sung such notes?

Sonnet CCCXXXVIII

Precariously dangling from a tree,

He mutely eyes the android enemy.

He eyes his goal with puma-like furore,

Then dives through air towards the earthen floor.

Lest others steal his hard-earned, sylvan prize,

His ready senses swiftly scrutinize.

Suspecting something is indeed amiss,

He darts from sight into the shade’s abyss.

Emerging once his humble meal is done,

He breaks into a fleeting little run.

He scampers up the half-dressed, wooden bones

And rests upon the grey limb of his home.

And leafy tears obscure the world below:

The oaks lament their stolen embryos.