More Precious Than Rubies! Poem by Denis Martindale

To encounter someone truly more precious than rubies is to see the rest of the world with less favour than before. Even a princess may be compelled to marry a complete stranger for the benefit of the Royal Family and their future as well as the kingdom itself.

A free woman may marry as she pleases yet here it is that the thought of the beloved overshadows all else once thought worthy of fervent desires or hopes and dreams. So it is no wonder that many a sweetheart is the first in focus when memory serves.

Why meditate on the riches of a palace where love has little meaning? All the finery of such a Royal Court cannot disguise the lack of love. People can put on their happy faces and smiles at will yet a wise man sees through all of these. He sighs at the inward distresses of such a madcap misery dressed up in Royal robes.

So it is that a poet is well aware of real happiness that never ever needed a Royal throne or crown. A truly blessed man is never lonely for long because of his sweet memories of his sweetheart. She is his greatest treasure upon this Earth and the first face he wishes to see in Heaven.


Denis Martindale, the 23rd of April 2023.

The poem is based on Sonnet 29 by William Shakespeare.