Sonnet Cycle To M C After William Shakespeare Part I Index Sonnets I - Lxxx Poem by Jonathan ROBIN

[c] Jonathan Robin

Care Is Our Dream



“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest, where no one sees you.”
Jalal ad-Din Rumi http: //www.princeton.edu/~npotlapa/files/rumi.html

“Of Cabbages and Kings” Lewis Carroll The Walrus and the Carpenter




Care Is Our Dream Maude Our Dream Is Care



June – August 2008
Care Is Our Dream Sonnets Our Dream Is Care

Sonnet key to Shakespearean originals
BIS corresponds to variations on a theme

INDEX

Initial Exchange
Maude Us Vivendi Mind bright is masked by magic, vibrant charm
Introduction Sweet friend see sent through Shakespeare echo planned
Preface Song which both strong and tender tries to be
I Sweet, from the fairest creatures we desire
II Should forty Winters’ snows besiege your brow
III Search in your mirror my reflection there
IV Such loveliness as yours one should not hoard
V Spring soon is spent while Winter's cold approaches
VI Self-willed no longer stay, thou art too fair,
VII Sun in the East, the gorgeous morning light
VIII Sweet with sweet strives not - should joy with joy ?
IX Single remaining fearing widow's tears
X Shame should cheeks burn! In turn admired by many,
XI Stir up the muddy waters of my mind
XII Since daily must we [c]lock hard knocks of time,
XIII So if, sweet love, your life be like a book
XIV Stars and cards should not Man’s judgement rule,
XV Strange that each little thing takes long to grow,
XVI Stone flakes to sand and mountains melt to mould,
XVII So who’ll believe my verse in times to come,
XVII BIS So who’d endorse verse force in times to come,
XVIII Shall I compare her to blue summer's day?
XVIII BIS Shall I compare her? In what galaxy,
XIX Swift-footed Time speeds on with open jaws,
XX Soft dainty face with Nature's own hand painted,
XXI So is it not with me as with that Muse
XXII So long as you and youth rhyme-share one date,
XXIII So as an actor, stage-fright suffering,
XXIV Sure hand plays partial painter here to lend
XXV So let those who seem lucky in their stars
XXVI Sovereign lady, paid be homage due
XXVI Bis Sovereign Lady I'm your vassal sworn
XXVII Strained by toil, I coil within my bed
XXVIII Separate from you, what sorry plight
XXIX Star-crossed, fortune lost, tossed on Fate's wave
XXX Sometimes in sessions of unhappy thought
XXXI Sweet universal song spins from the inner ear
XXXII Should you survive the number of my days
XXXIII So many splendid mornings have I seen
XXXIV Spent is Life's promise, was it meant in play,
XXXV Stop, no longer grieve, believe! Who'd care
XXXVI Shall I confess that we two should be twain
XXXVII Shirking to show my worth I find delight
XXXVIII So long as Love breathes life into her breast
XXXIX So how, without self-praising, may I sing
XL Strip off all former loves, I shall reveal
XLI Such petty wrongs as freedom may commit
XLII Send me a smile - I'll really go to town
XLIII Sweet, though I blink, I'll never blinkered be,
XLIV Stop signs ignored should ever you on me
XLV So though from all four elements you're drawn
XLVI See you the struggles 'twixt my heart and mind
XLVII Struggles cease as heart and eye ally
XLVIII Streams start as springs, soon into rivers stream
XLIX Spare self from sorrow let not my defects
L Sadly I journey onward into night
LI Shall then my love forgive my constant calls
LII So am I as the wealthy man whose key
LIII She hungry makes where most she satisfies
LIV Sweet beauty shines! No brighter ornament
LV Since marble bust and gilded monument
LVI So is it error where I would draw near
LVII Servant to your every wish, desire
LVIII So God forbid the day I’m yours, Divine
LIX Sundry inventions of technology
LX So must flower hours bloom until doom’s end
LXI Slumber at your pressing wish is broken
LXII Sin of self-love was mine until we met
LXIII Sunset sends shadows, yet an inner light
LXIV Steamroller strange is Time, so prompt to wreak
LXV Some thoughts, like playful kittens, trip ahead
LXVI Simple truth misnamed simplicity
LXVII Spontaneous these feelers one would send
LXVIII Shame! there seems nothing new beneath the sun,
LXVIII BIS Should nothing new spun ‘neath run sun we find,
LXIX Some of her parts our azure sphere perceives
LXX Slander's spite to quality's attracted
LXXI Spare sunless mourning sigh when I Iie dead
LXXII Should the cruel world oblige you to recite
LXXIII Sad Autumn, turncoat, sheds its coat of leaves
LXXIV So be content, for when Fate's verdict's cast
LXXV Sequent songs hymn manna mirror, life
LXXVI Stray verse, avoiding innovative change
LXXVII Spread lines reflect shed beauty which we wear,
LXXVIII Steadily I have invoked one Muse
LXXIX Sweet friendship’s face, the fountainhead of grace,
LXXX See how I stall when my poor pen would write
LXXXI Surviving, shall I your oration make
LXXXI BIS Should she survive, my epitaph to make
LXXXII Since she was never married to my Muse
LXXXIII Strange as it sounds I felt she'd never need
LXXXIV Speech serves no turn, what may give pleasure more
LXXXV Speech silver’s held where silence gold is found
LXXXVI Seductive peacock, once I played at verse
LXXXVII So leave! Farewell! You are, for my possessing
LXXXVIII Should she these rag sheets mock, set all to light
LXXXIX Speak forth, am I forsaken for some fault
XC Soundly most dream when midnight’s heard to strike
XCI Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
XCII Steal not away, coeval is one life
XCIII Shall I stay sane if two apart should strain
XCIV Such as have strength to hurt and yet forbear
XCIV BIS Steal not away for ever - 'out of sight'
XCV Shame turns to bliss, claims blame's remiss when through
XCVI Some say your fault is youth and wantonness
XCVII So like drear winter has dark distance been
XCVII BIS So like harsh winter has her absence been
XCVIII Saturn laughs through rings which, karmic, met
XCIX Sweet thief whence did you steal scent which sweet smells
C So where did you slip off to, truant Muse
CI Speak truant Muse, how will you make amends
CII Strophe Strong gleams love’s dream although no strength is seeming,
CII Anti-strophe Strong is love's song whatever light is gleaming
CIII Scope for self-pride's apparent in this work
CIV Seen through my eyes you never can grow old
CIV BIS Seen through love’s eyes you never shall grow old
CV Spurn not love’s bind as blind idolatry
CVI Set into chronicles of perjured time
CVII Still will this fancy stay your monument
CVIII Symbols show true character, should ink
CIX Say not that ever I was false at heart
CX So much 'tis true, I've gadded here and there
CXI Start and finish are for me the same
CXII Scandal's stamped one image on my brow
CXIII Since first we spoke I woke in heart and mind
CXIV Such all embracing qualities as these
CXV Such lines I wrote before scored outright lie
CXVI So do not to the marriage of true minds
CXVII Say that on others I have bent my eye
CXVIII Some take, to make great appetites seem keen
CXIX Still losing self when self I sought to win
CXX Sensing old unkindness helps me now
CXXI Spend time elsewhere, share not your days with me
CXXII So many gifts to praise, so little space
CXXIII Silence, Time! None boast that I do change
CXXIV Should this sought court, be caught out wishful thinking
CXXV Some set their sights on superficial glory
CXXVI Sickled Time is sick with jealousy
CXXVII Since when, fair friend, has black been counted fair
CXXVIII Stale flattery slips st[r]eaming from the pen
CXXIX Spirit extended in another cause
CXXIX BIS Shakespeare too often failed to understand
CXXX Sun shines far brighter than maid's sapphire eyes
CXXXI Swift in succession fleet speed thoughts when I
CXXXII Soft eyes I worship, may yours pity me,
CLXIII Some seek to turn impressions inside out
CXXXIII Stolen from myself, in jail I lie
CXXXIV Servant to you stays Cupid I’ll admit
CXXXV Sweet fair my will will hold, so fare you well
CXXXV BIS Some find, in seeking, pleasure undefined
CXXXVI Severed from all but vocal echo, I
CXXXVII Sweet Cupid, what's this trick played on my eyes?
CXXXVIII Should she swear she be one with Time and Truth
CXXXIX Say love is owed another if you can
CXL Sorrow's inspiration helps express
CXLI Suffice it that you know 'tis not my eyes
CXLII Sin seems sweet love, base vice must virtues hate
CXLIII So, as a careful housewife runs to catch
CXLIV Spliced loves I have, of comfort and despair
CXLV Soft lips, that Cupid's bow helped draw
CXLVI Sad soul, mad centre of my sinful earth
CXLVII Sickness, illness, fever, malady
CXLVIII Second sight Love's thrust into my eyes
CXLIX Should ever you announce I love you not
CL Say whence do you draw energy and might
CLI See, love's too young to know what conscience makes
CLII Shared love here best attests that I’m forsworn
CLIII Cupid lay his bow aside, to sleep
CLIV Sweet Cupid laid his shaft down, fell asleep
CLV Should Chance or base design divide us twain
CLVI She sudden danced into my sight, sweet sprite
CLVII Spurn me and all my pleas if out of place
CLVIII Strange it appears, although no mind can fit
CLIX Sail set to wet the pen, another verse
CLX Simplicity is not my claim to fame
CLXI Snaking below her bridge my river whirls
CLXII Single state seems seemly, some souls state
CLXIII Some seek to turn impressions inside out
CLXIV Should you proclaim that black’s perceived as white,
CLXV Since our exchange, I’m changed, live, walk, through you
CLXVI Swain to shepherdess sent gentle posy
CLXVII So, Time, if mockery there be, I mock
CLXVIII So turn to old Khayyam and from his cup
CLXIX Studied style, like polished mirror glass
CLXX So here's confessed, my heart and head are thine
CLXXI Sense, sensibility, so sweetly signed
CLXXII Sometimes surprising sweetness sweeps souls shy
CLXXIII Sunday night, and sonnet cycle turns
CLXXIV Shrew Tamed: A Comedy of Errors
CLXXV Second thoughts tentacle sticky fingers
CLXXVI Soon, soon, our rhyming revels end, the game
CLXXVII Should Muse to music set your symphony
CLXXVIII Should thoughts instead of shoes show scale for speed
CLXXIX Steal not away, nor shirk, for - 'out of sight'
CLXXX Something sings within me when I think
CLXXXI Spontaneous here surges urge to press
CLXXXII Masked miracle or self-fulfilling dream?
CLXXXIII May one still trust walls which outlast their use
CLXXXIV Mantra and comedienne combined
CLXXXV Strong stands man’s faith, bans wraith fanned from spanned Past
CLXXXVI Mecca many praise five times a day
CLXXXVII Mother Nature vacuum, void, abhors,
CLXXXVIII Majestic rose may blossom sharing scent
CLXXXIX Mock mastery of rhyme and rhythm here
CXC Mission impossible taste would challenge tease
CXCI Moonshine madness or an open book
CXCII Motivation springs the mind, helps soar
CXCIII Movement appears to an observant eye
CXCIV So as time serves fine wine so this serves you
CXCV Multilingual input generates
CXCVI Mark open Windows. Pointing to flat screen
CXCVII Muse or passing theme, which would chance choose?
CXCVIII Sweet muse while strayed your cypher on this screen
CXCIX Mask long immured behind those walls Time's wit
CC Most women cloy where most they toy yet she
CCI Merit accorded rhyme draws inspiration
CCII Show me imagination’s flowing flight
CCIII May heralds June, soon birthday’s celebrated,
CCIV Muse enthusiastic sets brisk pace
CCV May previews summer solstice, June’s divine
CCVI Message sent by chance or circumstance
CCVII Mastered style, from feelings kept apart,
CCVIII Minutes stretch swift seconds [sk]etching years
CCIX Most mortals magnify role-models, by
CCX Murmurs merge, surge to majestic swell
CCXI Mention Maude, all admiration’s boundless
CCXII Meanings change when treadmill of translation
CCXIII Mistakes were made before my muse appeared
CCXIV Mesmerised, mind safes splits from inside
CCXV Man-made disasters strike as climate change
CCXVI Many reasons ring their warning bells
CCXVII Medused, my muse continues on its course,
CCXVIII Method shines through madness, sonnet strain
CCXIX Styx shan’t swallow, hours devour, your soul
CCXX Camille call me to asthma's ills a prey,
CCXXI Moment seize, life's opportunities
CCXXII Mighty fall, all dust returns to dust
CCXXIII Modicum of sense bears witness we
CCXXIV Make fairyland from rocky start to
CCXXV Man's life turns strife, joy earns, and then to bed
CCXXVI More dear than words appear for me you'll be
CCXXVII Moderation seems so out of place
CCXXVIII My one half celebrates our meeting's near
CCXXIX Maude’s sixty days my sixty years have swept
CCXXX Morn's haze through midday's blaze to twilight glaze
CCXXXI Man's life is strife or joy, and then to bed
CCXXXII Many levels interface to sing
CCXXXIII Mail sends signals, from mall mail relays
CCXXXIV Bridge of colours spans the years
CCXXXV If fair stars glitter in my eyes
CCXXXVI May [s]he fill heart with laughter, light
CCXXXVII Riddle my Riddle Dear Watson
CCXXXVIII Magic passion lifts aloft life’s song
CCXXXIX Mountains into molehills melt
CCXL More than before she finds felicity
CCXLI Momentous wave laves past, swept fast to sea
CCXLI Many options chance codes choice modes sow
CCXLII My name Amphora, by life's teeming beach
CCXLIII How has affection come
CCXLIV May neither time nor tide upon your Muse
CCXLV Mastery of rhyme and rhythm here
CCXLVI Mermaid cavern 'neath the swirling sea
CCXLVII Song shows that valentine spreads from July
CCXLVIII May today, tomorrow symbolize
CCXLIX Mars and Venus, meeting, sought to merge
CCXLIX BIS Time is the key for a lasting story
CCL Shall we still interact if at your door

Sonnets SANG to Maude
First Line ALPHABETICAL ORDER


Post Scriptum Judge not a book by cover royal blue
CCXLIII How has affection come
CCXXXIV Bridge of colours spans the years
CCXXXV If fair stars glitter in my eyes
CCXX Camille call me, to asthma's ills a prey,
CCXXXVIII Magic passion lifts aloft life’s song
CLXXXVIII Majestic rose may blossom sharing scent
CCXXIV Make fairyland from rocky start to
CCXXXIII Mail sends signals, from mall mail relays
CCXV Man-made disasters strike as climate change
CCXXXI Man's life is strife or joy, and then to bed
CCXXV Man's life turns strife, joy earns, and then to bed
CLXXXIV Mantra and comedienne combined
CXXXII Many levels interface to sing
CCXLI Many options chance codes choice modes sow
CCXVI Many reasons ring their warning bells
CXCVI Mark open Windows. Pointing to flat screen
CCXLIX Mars and Venus, meeting, sought to merge
CXCIX Mask long immured behind those walls Time's wit
CLXXXII Masked miracle or self-fulfilling dream?
CCVII Mastered style, from feelings kept apart,
CCXLV Mastery of rhyme and rhythm here
CCXXIX Maude’s sixty days my sixty years have swept
Initial Exchange Maude Us Vivendi Mind bright is masked by magic, vibrant charm
CCIII May heralds June, soon birthday’s celebrated,
CCXLIV May neither time nor tide upon your Muse
CLXXXIII May one still trust walls which outlast their use
CCV May previews summer solstice, June’s divine
CCXLVIII May today, tomorrow symbolize
CCXXXVI May [s]he fill heart with laughter, light
CCXII Meanings change when treadmill of translation
CLXXXVI Mecca many praise five times a day
CCXVII Medused, my muse continues on its course,
CCXI Mention Maude, all admiration’s boundless
CCI Merit accorded rhyme draws inspiration
CCXLVI Mermaid cavern 'neath the swirling sea
CCXIV Mesmerised, mind safes splits from inside
CCVI Message sent by chance or circumstance
CCXVIII Method shines through madness, sonnet strain
CCXXII Mighty fall, all dust returns to dust
CCVIII Minutes stretch swift seconds [sk]etching years
CXC Mission impossible taste would challenge tease
CCXIII Mistakes were made before my muse appeared
CLXXXIX Mock mastery of rhyme and rhythm here
CCXXVII Moderation seems so out of place
CCXXIII Modicum of sense bears witness we
CCXXI Moment seize, life's opportunities
CCXLI Momentous wave laves past, swept fast to sea
CXCI Moonshine madness or an open book
CCXXVI More dear than words appear for me you'll be
CCXL More than before she finds felicity
CCXXX Morn's haze through midday's blaze to twilight glaze
CCIX Most mortals magnify role-models, by
CC Most women cloy where most they toy yet she
CLXXXVII Mother Nature vacuum, void, abhors,
CXCII Motivation springs the mind, helps soar
CCXXXIX Mountains into molehills melt
CXCIII Movement appears to an observant eye
CXCV Multilingual input generates
CCX Murmurs merge, surge to majestic swell
CCIV Muse enthusiastic sets brisk pace
CXCVII Muse or passing theme, which would chance choose
CCXXVIII My one half celebrates our meeting's near
CCXXXVII Riddle my Riddle Dear Watson
CCXLII My name Amphora, by life's teeming beach


_____________________




CCXXXVII Riddle my Riddle Dear Watson
LXXIII Sad Autumn, turncoat, sheds its coat of leaves
L Sadly I journey onward into night
CXLVI Sad soul, mad centre of my sinful earth
CLIX Sail set to wet the pen, another verse
XCVIII Saturn laughs through rings which, karmic, met
CIX Say not that ever I was false at heart
LXXXIX Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault
CXXXIX Say love is owed another if you can
CXVII Say that on others I have bent my eye
CL Say whence do you draw energy and might
CXII Scandal's stamped one image on my brow
CIII Scope for self-pride's apparent in this work
III Search in your mirror my reflection there
CXLVIII Second sight Love's thrust into my eyes
CLXXV Second thoughts tentacle sticky fingers
LXXXVI Seductive peacock, once I played at verse
LXXX See how I stall when my poor pen would write
LXXX See how I faint whenever I do paint.
CLI See, love's too young to know what conscience makes
XLVI See you the struggles 'twixt my heart and mind
CIV BIS Seen through love’s eyes you never shall grow old
CIV Seen through my eyes you never can grow old
VI Self-willed no longer stay, thou art too fair
XLII Send me a smile - I'll really go to town
CLXXI Sense, sensibility, so sweetly signed
CXX Sensing old unkindness helps me now
XXVIII Separate from you, what sorry plight
LXXV Sequent songs hymn manna mirror, life
CXXXIV Servant to you stays Cupid I’ll admit
LVII Servant to your every wish, desire
CXXXVI Severed from all but vocal echo, I
CVI Set into chronicles of perjured time
CXXIX BIS Shakespeare too often failed to understand
II Should forty Winters’ snows besiege your brow
XVIII Shall I compare her to blue summer's day?
XVIII BIS Shall I compare her? In what galaxy,
XXXVI Shall I confess that we two should be twain
XCIII Shall I stay sane if two apart should strain
CCL Shall we still interact if at your door
LI Shall then my love forgive my constant calls
X Shame should cheeks burn! In turn admired by many,
LXVIII Shame! there seems nothing new beneath the sun,
XCV Shame turns to bliss, claims blame's remiss when through
CLII Shared love here best attests that I’m forsworn
LIII She hungry makes where most she satisfies
CLVI She sudden danced into my sight, sweet sprite,
XXXVII Shirking to show my worth I find delight
CLV Should Chance or base design divide us twain,
CXLIX Should ever you announce I love you not
CLXXVII Should Muse to music set your symphony
LXVIII BIS nothing new spun ‘neath run sun we find,
LXXXI BIS Should she survive, my epitaph to make
CXXXVIII Should she swear she be one with Time and Truth
LXXII Should the cruel world oblige you to recite
CXXIV Should this sought court, be caught out wishful thinking
LXXXVIII Should she these rag sheets mock, set all to light
CLXXVIII Should thoughts instead of shoes show scale for speed
CLXIV Should you proclaim that black’s perceived as white,
LXXXVI BIS Should you survive my epitaph to make
XXXII Should you survive the number of my days
CCII Show me imagination’s flowing flight
CLXXIV Shrew Tamed, All's Well …
CXXVI Sickled Time is sick with jealousy
CXLVII Sickness, illness, fever, malady
CXXIII Silence, Time! None boast that I do change
LXVI Simple truth misnamed simplicity
CLX Simplicity was ne'er my claim to fame
LXII Sin of self-love was mine until we met
XII Since daily must we [c]lock hard knocks of time,
LV Since marble bust and gilded monument
CXIII Since first we spoke I woke in heart and mind
CLXV Since our exchange, I’m changed, live, walk through you
CXXVII Since when, fair friend, has black been counted fair
LXXXII Since she was never married to my Muse
IX Single remaining fearing widow's tears
CLXII Single state seems seemly, some souls state
CXLII Sin seems sweet love, base vice must virtues hate
LXX Slander's spite to quality's attracted
LXX Sleepless nights and days devoid of rest
LXXVII Sleeps now the metroman who dreams of strikes
LXI Slumber at your pressing wish is broken
CLXI Snaking below her bridge my river whirls
LII So am I as the wealthy man whose key
CXLIII So, as a careful housewife runs to catch
XXIII So as an actor, stage-fright suffering,
CXCIV So as time serves fine wine so this serves you
LXXIV So be content, for when Fate's verdict's cast
CXVI So do not to the marriage of true minds
LVIII So God forbid the day I’m yours, Divine
CLXX So here's confessed, my heart and head are thine
XXXIX So how, without self-praising, may I sing
XIII So if, sweet love, your life be like a book
LVI So is it error where I would draw near
XXI So is it not with me as with that Muse
LXXXVII So leave! Farewell! You are, for my possessing,
XXV So let those who seem lucky in their stars
XCVII So like drear winter has dark distance been
XCVII BIS So like harsh winter has her absence been
XXXVIII So long as Love breathes life into her breast
XXII So long as you and youth rhyme-share one date,
CXXII So many gifts to praise, so little space
XXXIII So many splendid mornings have I seen
CX So much 'tis true, I've gadded here and there
LX So must flower hours bloom until doom’s end
XLV So though from all four elements you're drawn
CLXVI So, Time, if mockery there be, I mock
CLXVIII So turn to old Khayyam and from his cup
CVI So when in chronicles of wasted time
C So where did you slip off to, truant Muse
XVII BIS So who’d endorse verse force in times to come,
XVII So who’ll believe my verse in times to come,
CXXXII Soft eyes I worship, may yours pity me,
CXLV Soft lips, that Cupid's bow helped draw,
XX Soft dainty face with Nature's own hand painted
CXXXV BIS Some find, in seeking, pleasure undefined
XCI Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
LXIX Some of her parts our azure sphere perceives
XCVI Some say your fault is youth and wantonness
CLXIII Some seek to turn impressions inside out
CXXV Some set their sights on superficial glory
LXV Some thoughts like playful kittens trip ahead
CXVIII Some take, to make great appetites seem keen
CLXXX Something sings within me when I think
XXX Sometimes in sessions of unhappy thought
CLXXII Sometimes surprising sweetness sweeps souls shy
CCXLVII Song shows that valentine spreads from July
Preface Song which both strong and tender tries to be
CLXXIV Soon, soon, our rhyming revels end, the game
CXL Sorrow's inspiration helps express
XC Soundly most dream when midnight’s heard to strike
XXVI Sovereign lady, paid be homage due
XXVI Bis Sovereign Lady I'm your vassal sworn
XLIX Spare self from sorrow let not my defects
LXXI Spare sunless mourning sigh when I Iie dead
CI Speak truant Muse, how will you make amends
LXXXV Speech silver’s held where silence gold is found,
LXXXIV Speech serves no turn, what may give pleasure more
CXXI Spend time elsewhere, share not your days with me
XXXIV Spent is Life's promise, was it meant in play,
CXXIX Spirit extended in another cause
CXLIV Spliced loves I have, of comfort and despair,
CLXXXI Spontaneous here surges urge to press
LXVII Spontaneous these feelers one would send
LXXVII Spread lines reflect shed beauty which we wear
V Spring soon is spent while Winter's cold approaches
CLVII Spurn me and all my pleas if out of place
CV Spurn not love’s bind as blind idolatry
CXXVIII Stale flattery slips st[r]eaming from the pen
XXIX Star-crossed, fortune lost, tossed on Fate's wave
XIV Stars and cards should not Man’s judgement rule,
CXI Start and finish are for me the same
LXXVIII Steadily I have invoked one Muse
XCII Steal not away, coeval is one life
CLXXIX Steal not away, nor shirk, for - 'out of sight'
LXIV Steamroller strange is Time, so prompt to wreak
CXIX Still losing self when self I sought to win
CVII Still will this fancy stay your monument
XI Stir up the muddy waters of my mind
CXXXIII Stolen from myself, in jail I lie
XVI Stone flakes to sand and mountains melt to mould,
XXXV Stop, no longer grieve, believe! Who'd care
XLIV Stop signs ignored should ever you on me
XXVII Strained by toil, I coil within my bed
LXXXIII Strange as it sounds I felt she'd never need
XV Strange that each little thing takes long to grow,
CLVIII Strange it appears, although no mind can fit
LXXVI Stray verse, avoiding innovative change
XLVIII Streams start as springs, soon into rivers stream
XL Strip off all former loves, I shall reveal
CII Strophe Strong gleams love’s dream although no strength is seeming,
CII Anti-strophe Strong is love's song whatever light is gleaming
CLXXXV Strong stands man’s faith, bans wraith fanned from spanned Past
XLVII Struggles cease as heart and eye ally
CLXIX Studied style, like polished mirror glass
CCXIX Styx shan’t swallow, hours devour, dream soul
LXXXIV Subject or object, - roles so often turned
CXIV Such all embracing qualities as these
XCIV Such as have strength to hurt and yet forbear
CXV Such lines I wrote before scored outright lie
IV Such loveliness as yours one should not hoard
XLI Such petty wrongs as freedom may commit
CXLI Suffice it that you know 'tis not my eyes
VII Sun in the East, the gorgeous morning light
LXIII Sunset sends shadows, yet an inner light
CXXX Sun shines far brighter than maid's sapphire eyes
CLXXIII Sunday night, and sonnet cycle turns
LIX Sundry inventions of technology
XXIV Sure hand plays partial painter here to lend
CLXXII Surprise seduction signals siren song
LXXXI Surviving, shall I your oration make
CLXVI Swain to shepherdess sent gentle posy
LIV Sweet beauty shines! No brighter ornament
CLIII Sweet Cupid lay his bow aside, to sleep,
CLIII BIS Sweet Cupid laid his bow down, fell asleep
CXXXVII Sweet Cupid, what's this trick played on my eyes?
CXXXV Sweet fair my will will hold, so fare you well
Introduction Sweet friend see sent through Shakespeare echo planned
LXXIX Sweet friendship’s face, the fountainhead of grace,
I Sweet, from the fairest creatures we desire
CXCVIII Sweet muse while strayed your cypher on this screen
XXXI Sweet universal song spins from the inner ear
XCIX Sweet thief whence did you steal scent which sweet smells
XLIII Sweet, though I blink, I'll never blinkered be,
VIII Sweet with sweet strives not - should joy with joy ?
CXXXI Swift in succession fleet speed thoughts when I
LXXXII Swift does the pen in swift succession ink
XIX Swift-footed Time speeds on with open jaws,
CI Syllables in scintillating stream
CVIII Symbols show true character, should ink
CCXLIX BIS Time is the key for a lasting story

Maude US Vivendi


Mind bright is masked by magic, vibrant charm,
awareness keen seeks change of scene, sea change.
Unique potential seeds extensive range,
dreams space, needs time, autonomy, finds calm
extracting from life's vigour soothing balm.
Modus vivendi ventures, tests exchange,
authenticity attains, where naught seems strange,
undaunted by life's challenges, spurns qualms,
detects through radar all who might do harm
eliminating those unworthy who
mock trust, too often are unable to
add without taking more, threats to disarm.
Undeterred, rise 'far from madding crowd'
determine choice, voice deepest thoughts aloud.


20 May 2008 for previous version written 17 April 2008 see below

Magic smile masks mind behind the charm
Always aware, observant, seeking change.
Unique talents need extensive range
Dream of space, autonomy and calm
Extracting from life's vigour soothing balm.
Modus vivendi often finds it strange
As few attain an authentic exchange.
Undaunted, though, her intuition's arm
Detects by radar all who might do harm
Eliminating those unworthy who
Mock trust, and often are unable to
Add without taking more. These she'd disarm
Undeterred, far from the crowd she'd rise
DEtermined to win through to joyous skies

17 April 2008

INTRODUCTION




Sweet friend see sent through Shakespeare echo planned
As mirror of your merits in my eyes,
Name weaving undeceiving, sung sans sighs,
Gains tempo, draws upon acrostic strand.
Tenderness and word-dance will withstand,
Over time, Time's unkind cut which scythes
Man’s phoenix flames, soon sunk, cut down to size.
All other fame fades, flickers turns to sand.
Multi-facetted, this sweet saraband,
As verse - part art, part play – sheds all disguise.
Unique heart stitches riches mind supplies,
Dream beam themes on fair Queen old walls disband.
Empathy, as catalyst, extends
Links into rainbow bridge that never ends.




PREFACE
Song Approaches New Grace Through One Mission
Accomplished, May Ally Unlimited Dance, Endless Light




SONG which both strong and tender tries to be
APPROACHES sonnet sequence with soft smile,
NEW robes for old shakespearian dons awhile,
GRACE praising to her face eternally
THROUGH lines which many levels twine, yet see
ONE message steady signed, resists time's trial -
MISSION meant to fertilize hope's phial,
ACCOMPLISHED over all add_verse_city.
MAY this response find welcome, amity,
ALLY heart, and head to reconcile
UNLIMITED, and multi-modal style,
DANCE and inner glance with chance to free
ENDLESSLY dream is our care, to key
LIGHT flight restranding Shakespeare versatile.

…

Shakespeare Sonnet I


From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding.
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.


Sonnet I

Sweet, from the fairest creatures we desire
An increase, so that Beauty may not die.
Nonetheless, as naught grave Time defy,
Go we to seek in fresh heart fresher fire, -
Though form, face, shadows chase to spark desire!
One name alone flames showers none deny,
Maintaining burning bush as broad as high, -
Amber embers both consumed, entire.
Muse music, song, score, soloist and choir,
As angel more than some mere ornament -
Useless envy’s churlish spite’s swift spent, -
Dreams Nature sp[l]ices to untold desire.
Embers Phoenix scorns, reborn flies free,
Claims one alone untouched by Lethe’s see,
Shakespeare Sonnet II

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,
Will be a tattered weed, of small worth held:
Then being asked where all that beauty lies,
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,
To say, within thine own deep-sunken eyes,
Were an all eating-shame, and thriftless praise.
How much more praise deserved that beauty's use,
If thou couldst answer, -'this fair child of mine
Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse, '? -
Proving his beauty by succession thine!
This were to be new-made, when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm, when thou feel'st it cold.



Sonnet II

Should forty Winters’ snows besiege your brow
And furrows battle burrow beauty's field,
Niggardly ploughing harvest all praise now, -
Gold tresses shining, no stress lines revealed, -
Tremors, wrinkles wreathing Beauty's smile
One day frayed care, etched shade, send shadowed eyes?
May not she be one sun whose run Time's trial
As timeless trace withstands ? Love testifies
Marching years can't alter inner grace
As strong stays spirit. Her[e] life certifies
Unique providence puts gifts in place
Destiny’s wheel turns, spurns Time’s petty pace.
Enchantment clears where others fear, grow [c]old,
Camille, Ambre, Alice, Axel youth remould.



Shakespeare Sonnet III

Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest,
Now is the time that face should form another;
Whose fresh repair is now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
For where is she so fair, whose unear'd womb
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry ?
Or who is he so fond, will be the tomb
Of his self-love, to stop posterity ?
Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime:
So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.
But if thou live, remembered not to be,
Die single, and thine image dies with thee.

Sonnet III

Search in your mirror my reflection there
A-twinned entwined about the finest waist,
Nodding in accord, and chorded fair,
Generating dreams both share enlaced.
Try to imagine such sweet heir as this,
One melody, identity of mind, -
Magic Nature's metamorphosis,
Apotheosis Love has counter-signed.
Mother’s mirrored reciprocity,
April’s bloom may birthday June show prime,
Undaunted blossom, ageless, witness we,
Despising wrinkles, daring Time, sublime.
Enchantment mocks each rival melody,
’Care is our dream’ - no other image see!




Shakespeare Sonnet IV


Unthriftly loveliness, why dost thou spend
Upon thyself thy beauty's legacy ?
Nature's bequest gives nothing, but doth lend;
And, being frank, she lends to those are free.
Then, beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse
The bounteous largess given thee to give ?
Profitless usurer, why dost thou use
So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live ?
For, having traffic with thyself alone,
Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive.
Then how, when nature calls thee to be gone,
What acceptable audit canst thou leave ?
Thy unused beauty must be tomb's with thee,
Which, used, lives th'executor to be.


Sonnet IV


Such loveliness as yours one should not hoard,
As cob-webbed coffer stashed in cashless bank.
Nature's gifts are lent, rich purse's cord
Grasped by Time's rake which ever, to be frank,
Takes int'rest staked too high. Though once adored,
One day sees all lose looks, locks, stocks and rank,
Must dust by bust to mem'ry be restored?
All sandy trickles end! So, Nature thank!
Mistaken hoarding of your inner chord
Appears vain mirage, self-deception blank,
Unremitted interest, blunted sword
Dividend unpaid when soul’s weighed, sank.
Executrix of one’s sole soul's absurd,
Could such song’s beauty sleep in tomb unheard?




Shakespeare Sonnet V


Those hours, that with gentle work did frame
The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,
Will play the tyrants to the very same,
And that unfair which fairly doth excel:
For never-resting time leads summer on
To hideous winter, and confounds him there;
Sap checked with frost, and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'ersnow’d, and bareness everywhere:
Then, were not summer's distillation left,
A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it, nor no remembrance what it was:
But flowers distill’d, though they with winter meet,
Lease but their show; their substance still lives sweet.


Sonnet V


Spring soon is spent while Winter's cold approaches
Altering that loveliness which dwells
Now in most eyes. Ghost traitor-time encroaches,
Gathering most where most youth's gift excels.
The last sweet leaves of beauty's book become
Overrun, blots parody sweet Spring,
Methusalem chilled, Philomel stilled, dumb,
As clocks tell, tocsin soon tolls sullen ring.
Memories without verse witness weaken!
Advance with beauty Beauty envies, where
Unsung essential distillation’s beacon
Dims, fails to shine, fades, feeding deep despair.
Ensure life’s substance, timeless blaze maintained,
Casts masks away, sweet, meets test, gaze sustained.

Shakespeare Sonnet VI


Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
In thee thy summer, ere thou be distill’d:
Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place
With beauty's treasure, ere it be self-killed.
That use is not forbidden usury,
Which happies those that pay the willing loan;
That's for thyself to breed another thee,
Or ten times happier, be it ten for one:
Ten times thyself were happier than thou art,
If ten of thine ten times refigured thee.
Then what could death do if thou shouldst depart,
Leaving thee living in posterity ?
Be not self-willed, for thou art much too fair
To be Death's conquest, and make worms thine heir.


Sonnet VI


Self-willed no longer stay, you are too fair,
Art cannot picture richer, it were sin.
Nameless heresy proclaims worms heir,
Grieving Life would mourn bereft of kin.
Thus reproduce fair image, like a clone
Of beauty, stature, smile, true rhyme sublime,
Majesty of spirit, which alone
Always endures, ensuring threads through time.
Miracle prepares posterity,
Aspires to blossom, ten[d] to power of four,
Unchecked, Man's g[r]ain, prints images of thee,
Defies VAIN RAN re-editing ‘before’.
Extend hope’s host as toast beyond Time’s brim.
Can maggots grim NIRVANA’s harvest trim?
Shakespeare Sonnet VII


Lo! in the orient when the gracious light
Lifts up his burning head, each under eye
Doth homage to his new-appearing sight,
Serving with looks his sacred majesty;
And having climbed the steep-up heavenly hill,
Resembling strong youth in his middle age,
Yet mortal looks adore his beauty still,
Attending on his golden pilgrimage;
But when from highmost pitch, with weary car,
Like feeble age, he reeleth from the day,
The eyes, 'fore duteous, now converted are
From his low tract, and look another way:
So thou, thyself outgoing in thy noon,
Unlocked on diest, unless thou get a son.

Sonnet VII


Sun east feast shows, grows gorgeous, dawn’s delight
Advances proudly while Earth’s azure eye
New homage pays to glory which by right
Glows day, by night beneath horizon’s sky.
Time’s shadows chase sun’s trace to middle age,
Once zenith paced, traced raced descent, each finds
Murky curtain, blinds drawn down, life’s page -
Afternoon ephemeral - unwinds.
Mutiny Time challenges, won’t yield
As eyes enchanting urge direction change
Unleashing energy which wins life’s field,
Duty converted into faith finds range,
Expels objections, second-thoughts sub-prime,
Can providential muse be jailed by Time?

Shakespeare Sonnet VIII


Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly ?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:
Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly,
Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy ?
If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,
By union married, do offend thine ear,
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering;
Resembling sire and child and happy mother,
Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing:
Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one,
Sings this to thee: 'Thou single wilt prove none.'


Sonnet VIII

Sweet with sweet strives not - should joy with joy ?
As music sadness sweeps away when tune
Names g[l]adding song beneath wreathed madding moon -
Grants gift that knows no rift shan’t shift or cloy.
True tenderness recovered, girl to boy,
Offers osmosis, empathy, thence soon
Merges understanding - bounteous boon -
Avoiding empty spaces which destroy,
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
Accord relations, discord left behind,
Unite as each in each concord discovers,
Depict string chorus, ‘heartsichords' entwined,
Enchanted, silence sings: ‘she shines unique! ’
Concordance climbs new peak, one hand claps SPEAK!
Shakespeare Sonnet IX


Is it fear to wet a widow's eye
That thou consum'st thyself in single life ?
Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die,
The world will wail thee, like a makeless wife;
The world will be thy widow, and still weep
That thou no form of thee hast left behind,
When every private widow well may keep
By children's eyes her husband's shape in mind.
Look! what an unthrift in the world doth spend
Shifts but his place, for still the world enjoys it;
But beauty's waste hath in the world an end,
And kept unus’d, the user so destroys it.
No love toward others in that bosom sits
That on himself such murderous shame commits.


Sonnet IX



Single why stay though fearing wi[n]dow's tears,
Awash with grief, engraved groove furrowed face?
Name now, fair friend, the day, remaining years
Gleam team-true, Carpe Diem, life embrace,
To wed lest Death both wife and widow be!
Once in the grave, no likeness left behind,
Most who too much of mirrors ask soon see
A dowry swift squandered, undermined.
Make-up narcissistic, coarse and unrefined,
Alas proves ploy, destroyed by retrospection,
Unused beauty’s furrowed by Fate unkind,
Despondent celibate mocks gene selection.
Esteem seems strained, stain spreads from altered w[r]its,
Condemns shame’s schemes if altar dream team quits.
Shakespeare Sonnet X

For shame! deny that thou bear’st love to any,
Who for thyself art so unprovident.
Grant, if thou wilt, thou art belov’d of many,
But that thou none lov’st is most evident;
For thou art so possess’d with murderous hate
That ’gainst thyself thou stick’s not to conspire,
Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate
Which to repair should be thy chief desire.
O! change thy thought, that I may change my mind:
Shall hate be fairer lodg’d than gentle love?
Be, as thy presence is gracious and kind,
Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove:
Make thee another self, for love of me,
That beauty still may live in thine or thee.


Sonnet X


Shame should cheeks burn! In turn admired by many,
All suitors spurning, - none earn answer clear.
Not sharing bliss, a-miss not loving [m]any,
Glow who may know where no heir can appear.
Take spinning seasons as analogy, -
Or are not Winters pregnant with fresh Springs,
May not sun's shine sing leaf which springs through tree
All rings recording joys which new birth brings?
Mind modify so I exchange thoughts’ range
According credit more to love than hate,
Unto thyself be true not stranger, change
Don’t self condemn, bloom sere on stem berate.
Extending options on joy’s guarantees
Consider chance freed opportunities.
Shakespeare Sonnet XI

As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st
In one of thine, from that which thou departest;
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestow'st
Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest
Herein lives wisdom, beauty and increase;
Without this, folly, age and cold decay:
If all were minded so, the times should cease
And threescore year would make the world away.
Let those whom Nature hath not made for store,
Harsh, featureless, and rude, barrenly perish:
Look, whom she best endow’d she gave the more;
Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish:
She carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby
Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.

Sonnet XI

Stir up the muddy waters of my mind,
All doubts dispel, Dear, do not hesitate!
New horizons may emancipate
Gates, dams, sham weights of each and every kind.
Treat online meeting as if pre-assigned
On Heaven’s slate by stars that rule our fate,
Menace is there none, no grounds to state
An error entered calculations blind -
Mark Natures course from source no double bind.
Appears as inner instincts liberate
Unequalled bounty, prized though no prize, state
Distinct, above love vulgar - left behind.
Exchange osmosis, empathy, splice souls,
Clear view re-edit, knit halves fit fair whole





Shakespeare Sonnet XII


When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls, all silvered o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves,
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow;
And nothing 'Gainst Time's scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

Sonnet XII


Since daily must we [c]lock hard knocks of time,
And taking stock, see Life's steps stu[m]bble, [s]tale,
Notice Nature's winter coat of rime
Garner spare silver shocks where age [b]locks scale.
Testily we watch notched, storm tossed, trees’
Outstretched limbs deflecting freezing gale,
Mittens seeking 'gainst stark biting breeze -
An icy tribute paid when powers fail.
Moments reflect, though trembling forces flail
And sheaves tossed harvest dumb despair,
Upbeat prepare fresh karmic cycle hale,
Defy regrets, biers eerie, skull king stare.
Exile leap years, trap tears, cap fears, spurn scythe,
Chagrin, grin toxic, tocsin grim, Time’s tithe.
Shakespeare Sonnet XIII

O! that you were yourself; but, love, you are
No longer yours than you yourself here live:
Against this coming end you should prepare,
And your semblance to some other give:
So should that beauty which you hold in lease
Find no determination; then you were
Yourself against, after yourself's decease,
When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear.
Who lets so fair a house fall to decay,
Which husbandry in honour might uphold
Against the stormy gusts of winter's day
And barren rage of death's eternal cold ?
O! none but unthrifts. Dear my love, you know
You had a father: let your son say so.


Sonnet XIII

So if, sweet love, your life be like a book
Admit a chapter new which may impress
Natural stamp – no writer’s cramp - arrest
Ghost Time’s false fears. Heed call, a second look
Thus read, remaining pain erase, trial shook
Out errors or your sojourn turns poor jest.
Meagre trace remains when, gone to rest,
And coffin swallows spendthrifts brought to book.
May re-edition, proof read copybook,
Allow dance second chance, Maid Maude addressed,
Unveiling copy ‘right’, bright light professed,
Due dawn’s fresh threshold, robin, thrush and rook.
Energy from empathy fair flows:
Conclusion – fusion’s fission won’t foreclose!




Shakespeare Sonnet XIV


Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;
And yet methinks I have astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons? quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain, and wind,
Or say with princes if it shall go well,
By oft predict that I in heaven find:
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, constant stars, in them I read such art
As Truth and beauty shall together thrive,
If from thyself to store thou wouldn't convert?
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date?

Sonnet XIV


Stars and cards must not Man’s judgement rule,
And yet methinks we’re blessed with intuition; -
Nurture derived ‘pite rival, striving schools.
Granted foresight, vaunted precognition,
Thus see the light, control shed quite, play cool.
Out tortured past, mock any inhibition.
Mind finds free will, though not as blind Fate's tool.
Autonomy’s condition for fruition.
Maude from your eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, constant stars, in them I read such art
Uniting beauty, Truth, which, twinned shall thrive,
Double wealth together, still rich apart.
Earth grasps one truth above greed’s gaol goal [t]race,
Complete is joy when crowned by love’s embrace.
Shakespeare Sonnet XV

When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and check'd even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay,
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And, all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.


Sonnet XV


Strange that each tiny thing takes time to grow,
Attains perfection for the shortest space:
Naught Earth contains within its spendthrift show
Grave shows respect, flows brave, front Fates replace.
The species, - flora, fauna, - may increase
Only to fail beneath pale sky, - but why?
Mutations bold age, cold, limbs sterile cease
As impetus, once strong, must atrophy.
Momentum lost, then life’s inconstant stay
Awry turns, old rich for poor youth would change,
Undeserved requests debate decay,
Demand return game, pale before door strange.
Eject Time's dread test with head’s jest’s best zest
Cue sonnet sequence to nest feathered, blessed.
Shakespeare Sonnet XVI

But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time ?
And fortify yourself in your decay
With means more blessed than my barren rime ?
Now stand you on the top of happy hours,
And many maiden gardens, yet unset,
With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers,
Much liker than your painted counterfeit:
So should the lines of life that life repair,
Which this, Time's pencil, or my pupil pen,
Neither in inward worth nor outward fair,
Can make you live yourself in eyes of men.
To give away yourself keeps yourself still;
And you must live, drawn by your own sweet skill.

Sonnet XVI


Stone flakes to sand and mountains melt to mould,
As Time's transgressions etch on day by day.
Nature's plans tectonic plaques enfold
Growth and grit as bit by bit they weigh.
Thus rival factions fail, their tale soon told
On words where glory seldom finds its way.
Muted dictators cower, though once bold, -
As swift their rise their fall, [p]all is dismay.
Match life-lines to eyes’ pupil pen drawn taut to sketch
As much the inward worth as outer show,
Untying ties, withholds through letting go,
Dwell well through verse, more than gold purse could fetch.
Each finds through each plateau-platform sublime
Confirming gifts lift sum, some outreach Time.

Shakespeare Sonnet XVII


Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill’d with your most high deserts ?
Though yet, heaven knows, it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say ? This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch’d earthly faces.?
So should my papers, yellow’d with their age,
Be scorn'd, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term’d a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice, - in it and in my rime.

Sonnet XVII


So who’ll believe my verse in times to come,
As chock-a-block replete with your high praise,
No iceberg shows more of your talents’ sum
Grants view of worth Earth could not higher raise.
This sonnet sequence fails to reach its goal,
One pen can’t render peerless quality,
Maybe tomorrows won’t believe one soul
Apt to portray a tithe in verity.
Music through you spreads honeydew around
Although the Future may not half believe,
Unless, these sonnets seen, men rise from ground,
Dwell, bitter-sweet as Gods, Maude, joyful grieve.
Eternity by five is multiplied -
Camille, spry siblings, all my verse supplied.
Shakespeare Sonnet XVII



Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill’d with your most high deserts ?
Though yet, heaven knows, it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts.
If I could write the beauty of your eyes
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say ? This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne'er touch’d earthly faces.?
So should my papers, yellow’d with their age,
Be scorn'd, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be term’d a poet's rage
And stretched metre of an antique song:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice, - in it and in my rime.


Sonnet XVII BIS


So who’d endorse verse force in times to come,
As it with [p]rose words worth beyond compare,
Notwithstanding that my soul's struck dumb, -
Giving tongue to qualities too rare.
Thus Ronsard had Cassandra's mind found numb
Once set beside your sparkle. Not just there, -
Mark Antony would Cleopatra's drum
Avoid as void if you were anywhere.
Maid Juliet no Romeo would hum
Askance eye Paris Helen’s loving care.
Unseen stayed Sheba’s Queen to Solomon
Denied her suit, after your suite he’d stare.
E’er Paris, spurning Venus’ plum, repeats
Concurs in life, in verse, twice Maude Death’s dirge defeats.
Shakespeare Sonnet XVIII


Shall I compare thee to a summer's day ?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often in his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.


Sonnet XVIII


Shall I compare her to blue summer's day?
A thousand times more sweet she seems to me!
Nor can Time's winds - [which darling buds of May
Gusts shake] - unsettle our eternity.
Too strained the eye of heaven sometimes seems,
Or sends a storm, or sometimes shines too hot,
Mortal lifespans melt, each seems like dreams
As seasons soon decline, returning not!
Meditate, your Summer shall not fade,
Alone pole star outshines praise raised in verse,
Ungreyed ink imprint’s idyll lyric stayed
Defeating doom for Earth your worth rehearse.
Expecting more, expelling shady Death,
Claim these lines validates while Man draws breath.
Shakespeare Sonnet XVIII


Shall I compare thee to a summer's day ?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often in his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet XVIII Bis

Shall I compare her? In what galaxy,
And when or where? No mirror could reflect
Nature's epitome so talent decked,
Gainsaying self, Time holds all time in fee!
Telescopes in vain seek other sun
One half as bright, whose universal joy,
Might Big Bang justify, all it begun.
All would exchange their place for her employ.
Myths don truth’s dress, coeval, - past, to be,
Aeons root, shoot, fruit, tree, both end and start,
Under, above, in, out, earth, sky and sea,
Do merge, name frame as “all in one” apart.
Exemplary, all praise she’ll gain through giving,
Cycles may spin, yet one, though lost stays living.
Shakespeare Sonnet XIX



Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood;
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,
And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:
O! Carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;
Him in thy course untainted do allow
For Beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
Yet, do thy worst, old Time: despite thy wrong,
My love shall in my verse ever live young.


Sonnet XIX


Swift-footed Time speeds on with open jaws,
Avidly regardless of our lives,
New seconds swallow seconds, each arrives
Gobbling every minute that it draws
Transiently from its womb. Effect and cause
One moment mingle, lose the thread that strives
Minute Needle's eye to wed, - survives,
As if entombed, will doomed, drive geared to pause.
Mark not, old Time, with wrinkles beauty’s brow,
Add not a line which may not be removed,
Untainted present leave as present, ‘now’
Deserves to future generations prove
Elizabethan beauty still shines young -
Conscious this verse lends life through English tongue.

Shakespeare Sonnet XX


A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion;
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;
A man in hue all hues in his controlling,
Which steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou first created;
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,
And by addition me of thee defeated,
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
But since she picked thee out for women's pleasure,
Mine be thy love, and thy love's use their treasure.

Sonnet XX

Soft dainty face with Nature's own hand painted,
Art artless master-mistress of all passion;
Nobility with falsehood unacquainted,
Gainsaying changeling trend bends, changing fashion.
Thus azure eyes acuter than all others
Offer iridescence where light touches,
Masks put to flight, as insight envy smothers,
All enchanting, free from vulgar smutches.
Man, main attraction, reigns on gravity,
Add woman, Nature’s rains fall fertile, call
Unsimulated growth, life’s galaxy,
Dust swept away, dons green and amber shawl.
Expect not this poor pen to sketch such treasure,
Can mortal hands love’s pleasure ever measure?

Shakespeare Sonnet XXI


So is it not with me as with that Muse
Stirr'd by a painted beauty to his verse,
Who heaven itself for ornament doth use
And every fair with his fair doth rehearse,
Making a complement of proud compare,
With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems,
With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare
That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems.
O! let me, true in love, but truly write,
And then believe me, my love is as fair
As any mother's child, though not so bright
As those gold candles fixed in heaven's air:
Let them say more that like of hear-say well;
I will not praise that purpose not to sell.


Sonnet XXI


So is it not with me as with that Muse
Awoken by poor painted sparks to verse
Niceties which Heaven's name misuse,
Giving praise, deserving the reverse.
Truth turns down compliments which Truth abuse,
Only I seek one smile as poet's purse,
May thus no generations this accuse
Accursed exaggerations, flattery’s nurse.
May my love loyal, royal write, describe
Amor in bloom, its perfumed innocence,
Unparallelled except by cherub scribe
Defining golden incense heaven scents.
Expect excess from fish some seek to swell,
Call lilies’ bluff! I’ve no false praise to sell.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXII


My glass shall not persuade me I am old
So long as youth and thou are of one date;
But when in thee time's furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days should expiate.
For all that beauty that doth cover thee
Is but the seemly raiment of my heart,
Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me:
How can I then be elder than thou art ?
O! therefore, love, be of thyself so wary
As I, not for myself, but for thee will;
Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary
As tender nurse her babe from faring ill.
Presume not on thy heart when mine is slain;
Thou gav'st me thine, not to give back again.

Sonnet XXII


So long as you and youth rhyme-share one date,
All mirrors warmth will witness, never scold; -
Nature's treason fails 'neath reason's weight,
Gives up vain struggle once its story's told.
Though Beauty lies skin deep, wan plastic cover, -
Oft bought and sold in cold man's seedy mart, -
Measure how fond heart of artless lover,
Adds joy to joy that knows nor stop nor start.
Make sure young Cupid love learns to beware,
As who’s naïve must grieve when times turn ill,
Upholding your heart I’m too well aware
Drawn drawbridge will protect from loss or spill.
Expect not to receive on call again
Constant heart, should ever mine be slain.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXIII


As an unperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put besides his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rage,
And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
Oe'ercharg'd with burthen of mine own love's might.
O! let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than the tongue that more hath more express’d.
O! learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.


Sonnet XXIII


So as an actor, stage-fright suffering,
Afeared, I tremble deep within my heart.
Nor would verse voice rehearse, terse tongue impart
Grief, distress, confess souls restless sing.
Therefore refraining from refrains joys bring
One hesitates, and, stuttering, can't start
More praise to raise to her whose highest art
An artless ring enjoys, - employs just ring.
My verse on Pegasus rides eloquent
Aching echo understating plea,
Upstarts rewards may ask for task to fee,
Despicable their masks, each speech misspent.
Expertly read between lines love has writ,
Claps one hand sight unseen? Heed what wit’s knit!

Shakespeare Sonnet XXIV


Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell’d
Thy beauty's form in table of my heart;
My body is the frame wherein 'tis held,
And perspective it is best painter's art.
For through the painter must you see his skill,
To find where your true image pictur'd lies,
Which in thy bosom's shop is hanging still,
That hath his windows glazèd with thine eyes.
Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done:
My eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me
Are windows to my breast, where-through the sun
Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee;
Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art,
They draw but what they see, but not the heart.



Sonnet XXIV


Sure hand plays partial painter here to lend
A timeless touch to beauty's fondest child,
Now catch impressions mild, expressions wild,
Gladness, sadness where all talents blend.
To harmony through harmony we bend
Our eyes surprised by beauty undefiled
Modest mistress, Nature's darling, mild,
A poet-painter’s skills fair copy’d send
Make sketch fetch inner image from fair friend
Address from eyes to eyes truth reconciled,
Usurp no reputations, style defiled,
Delight bright sun who’d gaze without an end
Entranced on you, beyond complexion seen,
Complexities withdrawn, perceives true Queen.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXV



Let those who are in favour with their stars
Of public honour and proud titles boast,
While I, whom fortune of such triumph bars,
Unlocked for joy in that I honour most.
Great princes? favourites their fair leaves spread
But as the marigold at the sun's eye,
And in themselves their pride lies burièd,
For at a frown they in their glory die.
The painful warrior famousèd for fight,
After a thousand victories once foiled,
Is from the book of honour razèd quite,
And all the rest forgot for which he toiled:
Then happy I, that love and am belov’d,
Where I may not remove nor be removed.


Sonnet XXV


So let those who seem lucky in their stars,
And public honour, who proud titles boast,
Now know wheels turn, woe well won weal debars.
Great Princess, heart lauds heart it hears the most,
Tenderness ripens out beneath Love's sun,
Once love is lost, Life, storm tossed, patience learns,
Masters new replace the old they shun,
Ashes to furnace flame, love elsewhere burns.
Many knights, grown great, by envy’s dart
Are stricken from the lists, ambitions foiled,
Useless their labours found as tumbrel cart
Deletes roll call, spoils all for which they toiled.
Ecstatic I though whom affection’s flow
Creates lines moving none remove, love’s glow.
Shakespeare Sonnet XXVI



Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written ambassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit:
Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine
May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,
But that I hope some good conceit of thine
In thy soul's thought, all nakèd, will bestow it;
Till whatsoever star that guides my moving
Points on me graciously with fair aspect,
And puts apparel on my tattered loving,
To show me worthy of thy sweet respect:
Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee;
Till then not show my head where thou mayst prove me.


Sonnet XXVI

Sovereign lady, paid be homage due
At all times more than duty double knit,
Nor may it falter, comets, stars pursue
Grooved orbits which Time alters not a whit.
Thy star my sky fills till my wit no clue
Of how to live without or how to show it,
Meanders mazy seeking overview,
As, fair, once bare, wide world, aware, may know it.
May June’s swoon sun song sung that guides my moving
Aspects clement comment to cement
Unchallenged worth, respect requires no proving,
Delightful verse rehearsed, bliss heaven sent.
Emotions steady, wed we heady ties,
Choice oat-meal bread needs love’s yeast dose to rise.
Shakespeare Sonnet XXVI


Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written ambassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit:
Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine
May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,
But that I hope some good conceit of thine
In thy soul's thought, all nakèd, will bestow it;
Till whatsoever star that guides my moving
Points on me graciously with fair aspect,
And puts apparel on my tattered loving,
To show me worthy of thy sweet respect:
Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee;
Till then not show my head where thou mayst prove me.


Sonnet XXVI BIS


Sovereign Lady heed here vassal sworn,
Admirer to a duty doubly knit,
Now dream teems, doubled message true and fit -
Guaranteeing soul’s set free from pawn.
There is, above Time's silken spider touch,
One spin-span merging surge which won’t recede,
Marvel seeding love's return to speed
Alternate echoes, - taking naught gives much.
Momentum guides stars which in orbit seed
A favoured aspect Fate should never smutch,
Unsound sound 'victim', 'victor', double-Dutch
Describes worm words which early bird will weed.
Enchanted troubadour beyond reproof
Chants toast not idle boast as peerless proof.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXVII



Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body's work's expired:
For then my thoughts - from far where I abide -
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind to see:
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous and her old face new.
Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself no quiet find.


Sonnet XXVII


Strained through toil’s coil, I boil within my bed
Angst turmoil seek to stifle, foiled and tired,
Not blessed with rest, for soon a brainstorm's sired,
Gushing forth fantastical, - the head
Traces image fair there, where instead,
One void avoids inventing dreams desired.
Midnight comes, thumbs up pulse drums inspired,
As eyelids seal, I feel revealed soft tread.
My soul by night from dreams streams through time sped,
Astral double shadows days expired,
Uncommon fantasy finds fever-fired
Dialogue with features years have bled.
Each day, avoiding hype, light fingers type.
Come night, though dreams return to seed writes ripe.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXVIII


How can I then return in happy plight
That am debarred the benefit of rest ?
When day's oppression is not eased by night,
But day by night, and night by day oppressed,
And each, though enemies to either's reign,
Do in consent shake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still farther off from thee.
I tell the day, to please him thou art bright,
And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven:
So flatter I the swart-complexion'd night;
When sparkling stars twice not thou gild'st the even.
But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer,
And night doth nightly make grief's strength seem stronger.


Sonnet XXVIII


Separate from you, what sorry plight
Aborts all sleep, as anxious nerves protest -
New thoughts day caught night fraught refills, hunt rest,
Guests uninvited trouble second-sight.
Though day and night are foes they both unite
Oppression weighs, soul’s ways seem second-guessed.
My praise by day tells sun that it is blessed
As, through your presence, lights dark clouds affright -
My ways by night show your stars grant respite
Above all else, one mirror’s manifest,
Unversed in praise, observe in tact I’m best.
Describing quest oppressed by Time’s harsh might.
Expended days extend, stretch ever longer
Count sheep without you, sorrow’s s[tr]ung far stronger.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXIX


When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone between my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With that I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Happly I think on thee, - and then my state,
Like to the lark of break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Sonnet XXIX

Star-crossed, fortune lost, tossed on Fate's wave,
Abandoned I’d reveal my sorry state,
Nor fail to trouble friends or celebrate
Grave distress as victim none can save.
Tied to regrets I'd surely, surly knave,
Outwail the moon claim all degenerate,
Morose, naught pleasing, nothing easing, wait
All envying, thoughts dark locked in star[k] cave,
Morn marks lark rising, harks to paean brave,
Approaching Earth, rings hymns at Heaven's gate:
Upon you my thoughts play, shed sorry state,
Distrust melts, strife dissolves, faith frees your slave.
Expressing fondness for you memory sings,
Come what may I’m enriched, won’t change with kings.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXX



When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sight the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's wast:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's song since cancelled woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanished sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoanèd moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.


Sonnet XXX

Sometimes in sessions of unhappy thought
Are minds reminded of lost chances passed,
Nursed grudges, nudged, spawn self-derision vast,
Grieving as cobwebbed fly by Fate fast caught.
Tranquility who finds ? Rest can't be bought.
Oftimes is reminiscence fears' repast.
Meanwhile tears flow for old friends Life outcast,
Absent beyond recall, their shades still sought.
My old regrets: Life's ship high, dry in port,
Ancient griefs land strand storm battered mast,
Useless, berthed, dismantled, - what can last?
Down on luck, lot: soul shoaled, reach beached, distraught.
Each time I think on you, my dearest friend,
Causes thought lost restored are, sorrows end.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXXI


Thy bosom is endearèd with all hearts,
Which I by lacking have supposèd dead;
And there reigns Love, and all Love's loving parts,
And all those friends that I thought burièd.
How many a holy and obsequious tear
Hath dear religious love stol'n from mine eye,
As interest of the dead, which now appear
But things removed that hidden in thee lie!
Thou art the grave where buried love doth live,
Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone,
Who all their parts of me to thee did give,
That due of many now is thine alone:
Their images I loved I view in thee,
And thou - all they - hast all the all of me.


Sonnet XXXI

Sweet universal song from inner ear
Arises there reigns Love, Love's loving parts,
Naught lacking, each belovèd by all hearts,
God could not let this image disappear.
Trophies of past loves inspire no fear,
Or vain regret for Life's Fiesta charts
Magic dimensions free from stops and starts, -
A limitless horizon sans frontier!
Meditate: to you I’ve transferred streams
As rich and limpid as love’s light might offer,
Unambiguous splendour, sparkling dreams,
Do your’s become, experience lines your coffer.
Energy from past loves freely given
Channels their strength to you, leaves mine unshriven.




Shakespeare Sonnet XXXII
(cf Ronsard: When you are old and grey)


If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl death my bones with dust shall cover,
And shall by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceasèd lover,
Compare them with the bettering of the time,
And though they be outstripp’d by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rime,
Exceeded by the heights of happier men.
O! then vouchsafe me but this loving thought:
'Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age,
A dearer birth than this his love had brought,
To march in ranks of better equipage:
But since he died, and poets better prove,
Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love.'?

Sonnet XXXII

Should you survive the number of my days,
Attest to buried bones and grounded hope,
Nervous, by chance, perhaps this book you'll ope,
Grave hand re-reading, when fast passed my ways.
Tender friend recall our comet blaze,
Openly with instinct's gyroscope
Mark, nurture, sight and sound, bright chromascope,
Able to distill implicit ph[r]ase.
Methinks fond thoughts might share this paraphrase:
“As rainbow bridge strips off coarse envelope
Underdeveloped were poor poet’s plays -
Death forced him far too early to elope.
E’er since he died, have other poets flourished.
Competent their works, I’ll read his, who love nourished.”

Shakespeare Sonnet XXXIII


Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide,
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:
Even so my sun one early morn did shine,
With all-triumphant splendour on my brow;
But, out! alack! he was but one hour mine,
The region cloud hath masked him from me now.
Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;
Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.

Sonnet XXXII


So many splendid mornings have I seen
Array the slopes with g[l]adding golden eye,
Nudging with magic touch vales, village green,
Gilding streams with golden alchemy.
T[r]ead on a while, - a pile of ugly clouds
Obliterate all space twixt sun and I.
Murky turn Nature's joys as darkness shrouds
Angles, lines and curves, would life deny.
Maude’s sun one zenith shone from azure sky
And splendour spread on forehead bathed in light,
Untimely it departed by and by,
Deprived, I’ll still recall that day’s delight!
E’er out of sight need not be out of mind,
Complete affection can’t be left behind!




Shakespeare Sonnet XXXIV



Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day,
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke
'tis not enough that through the cloud thou break,
To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face,
For no man well of such a salve can speak,
That heals the wound and cures not the disgrace:
Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief;
Though thou repent, yet have I still the loss:
The offender's sorrow lends but weak relief
To him that bear's the strong offence's cross.
Ah! but those tears are pearl why thy love sheds,
And they are rich and ransom all ill deeds.

Sonnet XXXIV

Spent is Life's promise, was it meant in play,
An oath to free me from defensive cloak,
Non obstat fears of love's loss which betray?
Gone all restraint was once one word was spoke !
Two cheeks no longer speak a salty taste,
0ne word stops storm clouds bursting on my brow.
May neither grieve what neither takes as waste
Awaiting transformation sparing vow.
Magic osmosis may all joys surpass,
As singing wings spin out from tingling spine
Under pod peas spend life, rend Time’s hour-glass,
Deem promised sprout fulfilling dream’s strong wine.
Empathy turns tables on past sadness,
Changes tear to cheer, feeds further gladness.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXXV


So more be grieved at that which thou hast done:
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker sleeps in sweetest bud.
All men make faults, and even I in this,
Authorising thy trespass with compare,
Myself corrupting, salving thy amiss,
Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are;
For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense, -
Thy adverse party is thy advocate, -
And 'Gainst myself a lawful plea commence:
Such civil war is in my love and hate,
That I an accessory needs be
To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.


Sonnet XXXV


Stop, no longer grieve, believe! Who'd care
About occlusions where pear diamond glows,
Nor fret the roses' thorns, the stream that flows
Gliding seawards heedless of our stare.
Terrors reject - fear only feeds despair
Only eclipsed is light refused, Life shows!
Moreover shun not sharing, surface blows
Awake souls whole, may heartache parts repair.
Mind to your faults would rush, to take their side,
Against my feelings’ suit sense advocate,
Use time to mine my own cause bona fide,
Destroying hate to your love’s love placate
E’en though to tireless spring to your defence
Civil war cuts me from love’s recompense.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXXVI


Let me confess that we two must be twain
Although our undivided loves are one:
So shall those blots that do with me remain,
Without thy help, by me be borne alone.
In our two loves there is but one respect,
Though in our loves a separable spite,
Which, though it alter not love's sweet effect,
Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love's delight.
I may not evermore acknowledge thee,
Lest my bewailèd guilt should do thee shame,
Nor thou with public kindness honour me,
Unless thou take that honour from thy name.
But do not so; I love thee in such sort
As thou being mine, mine is thy good report.


Sonnet XXXVI


Shall I confess that we two should be twain
As karmic twins, hope undivided grown ?
Now know my errors in me still remain
Greyed, frayed, fair maid, with heart which once seemed stone.
There is in shared respect spark which won't wane
Our minds though separate have twin seeds sown, -
Mark every gesture, shared, may joys sustain -
And is there shame where blame is overthrown?
My dear, I may one day from tryst refrain,
Afraid my faults might ‘triste’ your sweet love’s loan,
Unless you honour find through public gain
Dowering me affection richly strewn.
Expressions public of you worth depress,
Can be ignored - blessed by more private press.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXXVII



As a decrepit father takes delight
To see his active child do deeds of youth,
So I, made lame by fortune's dearest spite,
Take all my comfort from thy worth and truth.
For whether beauty, truth, or wealth, or wit,
Or any of these all, or all, or more,
Entitled in thy parts do crownèd sit,
I make my love engrafted to this store:
So then I am not lame, poor, or despis’d,
Whilst that this shadow doth such substance give
That I in thy abundance am suffic’d
And by a part of all thy glory live.
Look what is best, that best I wish in thee:
This wish I have; then ten times happy me.

Sonnet XXXVII

Shirking to show my worth I find delight
And comfort signed by your accomplishments.
Now, undermined by Time and Fortune's spite,
Glean I wit, subject, object, sentiments
Turning from all others day and night.
One dream I deem threads through with eloquence,
Masks not the glory of your storied [f]light -
All energy refuelled at joy’s expense
Man can’t complain he’s poor when from your presence
Aspirations drawn prove infinite,
Unequalled glory gilds your precious essence.
Does, shared between us, promise future bright.
Everything you’d wish for I’d pursue,
Convinced what’s best for you’s my motto too.

Shakespeare Sonnet XXXVIII



How can my Muse want subject to invent,
While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse
Thine own sweet argument, too excellent
For every vulgar paper to rehearse ?
O! give thyself the thanks if aught in me
Worthy perusal stand against thy sight;
For who's so dumb but cannot write to thee,
When thou thyself dost give invention light ?
Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth
Than those old nine which rimers invocate;
And he that calls on thee, let him bring forth
Eternal numbers to outlive long date.
If my slight Muse do please these curious days,
The pain be mine, but thine shall be the praise.



Sonnet XXXVIII

So long as love breathes life into her breast
A Muse is mine which spans eternity,
Nor sleep meed feed soul greedy for forced rest,
Graced by dream team whose theme’s infinity.
Tu[r]ning ink to inklings I've addressed
On[d]e ode to one whose wave spells liberty,
Mistress nonpareil, all must confess,
Agree, - who honours her must honoured be.
Mark well wise Virgo, blank, unprepossessed,
A’printing incandescence flaming free,
Unique addition, tenth Muse you’re addressed,
Decidedly your worth exceeds their fee.
Enlightened, on one head Muse laurels sit,
Clear all admit your praise more than my writ.
Cn


Shakespeare Sonnet XXXIX



O! how thy worth with manners may I sing,
When thou art all the better part of me ?
What can mine own praise to mine own self bring ?
And what is't but mine own when I praise thee ?
Even for this let us divided live,
And our dear love lose name of single one,
That by this separation I may give
That due to thee, which thou deserv'st alone.
O absence! what a torment wouldst thou prove,
Were it not thy sour leisure gave sweet leave
To entertain the time with thoughts of love,
Which time and thoughts so sweetly doth deceive,
And thou that teachest how to make one twain,
By praising him here who doth hence remain.


Sonnet XXXIX

So how, without self-praising, may I sing
A hymn to her who magic muse inspires ?
None may imagine that my everything
Grows from her grace - both face and inner fires.
Thrust palms together, unique line shows strong
One flows from, through, the other to become
Majestuous, - who's singer, who is song?
And who's the [st]ring, the [st]ringer, who's the strum
Missing you, trust trysted, binds joy, pain, as one,
Absence makes heart fonder, strains strains sad,
Unstrings Time’s bow, song signs with Cupid’s sun,
Defeated, clock, bemused by rhyme, rings glad.
Elected! one who’d twine unique address
Can only praise through understatement, bless.

Shakespeare Sonnet XL



Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all;
What hadst thou then more than thou hadst before ?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine before thou hadst this more.
Then, if for my love thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee for my love thou usest;
But yet be blam’d, if thou thyself deceivest
By wilful taste of what thyself refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle, thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty:
And yet, love knows it is a greater grief
To bear love's wrong than hate's unknown injury.
Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
Kill me with spite; yet we must not be foes.

Sonnet XL


Strip off all former loves, I shall reveal
All mine was thine before I can recall.
No love was love compared to what I feel -
Great Death's afraid of death whate'er befall.
True resurrection is Love shared between
One half which meets its twin, melts Yang in Yin,
Mantra is karmic conscience, set serene,
Apart no longer, stronger, sure to win.
Maude’s rob’s reprieved, her stealth my wealth confirms,
Athough that theft has eased my indigence,
Upstanding grace keeps hearts from harm, affirms
Doubts are unfounded, flouted, confidence
Extended tendril touch joy offers hearts,
Charts tenderness which spites spite’s spiteful arts.



Shakespeare Sonnet XLI


Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits,
When I am sometime absent from thy heart,
Thy beauty and thy years full well befits,
For still temptation follows where thou art.
Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won,
Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assailed;
And when a woman woos, what woman's son
Will sourly leave her till she have prevailed ?
Ay me! but yet thou might my seat forbear,
And chide thy beauty and thy straying youth,
Who lead thee in their riot even there
Where thou art forced to break a twofold truth; -
Hers, by thy beauty tempting her to thee,
Thine, by thy beauty being false to me.

Sonnet XLI


Such petty wrongs as freedom may commit
As, if, and when I’m absent from your heart
No logic serves – temptation cannot part,
Great distance notwithstanding, from eyes lit.
The gentleness in you so well does sit,
On beauty beauty triumphs all may chart,
Mädchen wooed becomes life’s end and start.
Attended till attained all must admit.
Men may reject as artless sonnets writ -
Alack who’d mock your youthful beauty’s beam -
Uknown to Future Truth, today shows it,
Defeats description, stars pale neath its gleam.
Earned praise unspurned, spurs peerless present sent,
Cries foul! should others beauty represent.

Shakespeare Sonnet XLII


That thou hast her, it is not all my grief,
And yet it may be said I loved her dearly;
That she hath thee, is of my wailing chief,
A loss in love that touches me more nearly.
Loving offenders, thus will I excuse thee:
Thou dost love her, because thou know'st I love her;
And for my sake even so doth she abuse me,
Suffering my friend for my sake to approve her.
If I lose thee, my loss is my love's gain,
And losing her, my friend hath found that loss;
Both find each other, and I lose both twain,
And both for my sake lay on me this cross:
But here's the joy, my friend and I are one,
Sweet flattery! Then she loves but me alone.



Sonnet XLII

Send me a smile - I'll really go to town
And paint it rich in coral like your lips.
Now reel it back, replace it with a frown, -
Grave cold I'd find, as one who poison sips.
Thrive by my side, I'd strive to reach the stars,
Or dream on themes romantic and intense:
Make your adieu, I'll s[t]ew a sigh that bars
All future bliss, no kiss could sa[l]ve my sense –
Misery, love lost, through pain finds pane
Across all obstacles, no cross need bear,
Unfounded fears are found, hopes rise again,
Double negatives becoming rare.
Enchantment gleams together, ne’er apart,
Cherish past’s theme, tomorrow’s counterpart.







Shakespeare Sonnet XLIII



When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unsuspected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.
Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow's form form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessèd made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!
All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.



Sonnet XLIII

Sweet, though I blink, I'll never blinkered be
As when I think my thoughts to thee do fly.
No wink could wing its way to fairer eye, -
Grave I’d discover separate from thee.
True dreams reality combine to see
On, off, light and dark, one whole, one soul espy.
My sense of grace all other trace deny -
All else ephemeral save she in me
Maid clear in living daylight beauty blesses,
Aware stay, shadows dark leave trace face blurred,
Unshown in dreams true portrait shines, vain guesses
Do no such justice to chaste taste preffered.
Each day I pray bright sings, brings light discerned,
Cold night’s dream frieze? - I freeze ‘til she’s returned.




Shakespeare Sonnet XLIV


If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,
Injurious distance should not stop my way,
For then, despite of space, I would be brought
From limits far remote, where thou dost stay.
No matter then although my foot did stand
Upon the farthest earth removed from thee;
For nimble thought can jump both sea and land,
As soon as think the place where he should be.
But ah! thought kills me that I am not thought
To leap large length of miles when thou art gone,
But that, so much of earth and water wrought,
I must attend time's leisure with my moan;
Receiving nought by elements so slow
But heavy tears, badges of either's woe.

Sonnet XLIV


Stop signs ignored should ever you on me
A moment dwell, no distance would exist,
Nor let nor hindrance cage our history
Galaxies shared, not gravity persist.
Thoughts to your side my ride, see, swift propels,
On wave-lengths mocking man-made boundaries,
My will your whim obeys, all else expels
Arrival safe near you speaks syphonies.
Methinks I’m am unworthy as my thought
Advances not beyond the speed of light
Unclad in boots of seven leagues, I’m naught,
Deprived of basic elements to write
Expectant where your presence could inspire
Constricted veins to [s]print love’s current higher.




Shakespeare Sonnet XLV



The other two, slight air and purging fire
Are both with thee, wherever I abide;
The first my thought, the other my desire
These present-absent with swift motion slide.
For when these quicker elements are gone
In tender embassy of love to thee,
My life, being made of four, with two alone
Sinks down to death, oppressed with melancholy;
Until life's composition be recurred
By those swift messengers returned from thee,
Who even but now come back again, assured
Of thy fair health, recounting it to me:
This told, I joy; but then no longer glad,
I send them back again and then grow sad.

Sonnet XLV


So though from all four elements you're drawn
Air, Fire and Water, adding Earth thereto,
Neither Art nor Science can your dawn
Ghost write, sketch, clone, etch, think or ink anew.
Transgressing self, against themselves some war,
On idle fancies others waste away,
Many unhappy, rich; content, though poor, -
Apart from you, all must Time's tribute pay.
Making do ‘til dialogue exchange
Advances instant message in real time entrance
Until immediate feedback what once strange
Dream seemed deems role predestined rolled by Chance
Earth, Water weight, wait counterfeit Fate frayed.
Coeur, Fire and Air enshrine your golden braid.

Shakespeare Sonnet XLVI



Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart does plead that thou in him dost lie, -
A closet never pierced with crystal eyes, -
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To 'cide this title is impannellèd
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart;
And by their verdict is determinèd
The clear eye's moiety and the dear heart's part:
As thus; mine eye's due is thine outward part,
And my heart's right thine inward love of heart.

Sonnet XLVI


See how we veer between dear heart, drear mind
As each would preach within its special reach
Neither's content, and each would each impeach,
Grave doubts hearts harbour, berthed on judgement blind.
The clear mind sneers at feelings undefined.
One referee impartial I beseech -
Mixed hesitations sterile doubts do preach, -
Are love's reels real or mirage much maligned?
Mind, heart, heart, mind, who may discern behind
Apparent contradictions, ramparts breach?
Unravel inconsistencies they teach?
Defuse lip service paid to rules unkind.
Eye draws its duty from your inner beauty,
Coeur charts one worth Earth worships, perfect cutie J

Shakespeare Sonnet XLVII



Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other:
When that mine eye is famish’d for a look,
Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,
With my love's picture then my eye doth feast,
And to the painted banquet bids my heart;
Another time mine eye is my heart's guest,
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part:
So, either by thy picture or my love,
Thyself away art present still with me;
For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,
And I am still with them and they with thee;
Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
Awakes my heart to heart's and eye's delight.


Sonnet XLVII

Struggles cease as heart and eye ally
And each to each good turns does sans delay: -
Now may they twine as heart, with inner eye
Garners reflection fair of peerless traits.
The heart refreshed is eyeing every part,
Open eye's fulfilled, heart's welcome guest,
Moreover neither rush, wait other's start,
As hearts signed, sealed, are mutually impressed.
Mention Present, Past is shadow dim
As Present, passed, fair Future’s bells ring bright,
United are all three: ‘us’, ‘her’, ‘him’s’ hymn,
Draws trinity’s divinity in sight.
Eye may make no mistake, beyond day's shore,
Charmed knight returns to one he’d e’er adore.




Shakespeare Sonnet XLVIII

How careful was I when I took my way;
Each trifle under truest bars to thrust,
That to my use it might unusèd stay
From hands of falsehood, in true wards of trust!
But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are,
Most worthy comfort, now my greatest grief,
Thou, best of dearest and mine only care,
Art left the prey of every vulgar thief.
Thee have I not locked up in any chest,
Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art,
Within the gentle closure of my breast,
From whence at pleasure thou mayst come and part;
And even hence thou wilt be stol'n I fear,
For truth proves thievish for a prize so dear.

Sonnet XLVIII


Streams start as springs, soon into rivers stream,
Anon they spew into the ocean blue.
Nations start as one man's tiny dream,
Grow great for reasons reason never knew.
Thus her bright aura, - form, face, open mind -
One universal constant none deny -
May never fade, leave ne’er a wrack behind,
As maiden monument must Time defy.
Might pirate eye lock you treasure chest?
Antitheses are absence, presence, here
Unless mind measures mirrored pleasures blessed
Defining stem, root, bark, branch, as zen linked clear
Encompassing all Nature – Nature would
Contrive to steal, too perfect for world’s good.






Shakespeare Sonnet XLIX



Against that time, if ever that time come,
When I shall see thee frown on my defects,
When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum,
Call'd to that audit by advis'd respects;
Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass,
And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye,
When love, converted from the thing it was,
Shall reasons find of settled gravity;
Against that time do I ensconce me here
Within the knowledge of mine own desert,
And this my hand against myself uprear,
To guard the lawful reasons on thy part:
To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws,
Since why to love I can allege no cause.

Sonnet XLIX

Spare self from sorrow, let not my defects
Afflict upon you worry, wail, or woe,
Note what's within not skin as eye inspects
Guardedly rhymes which so uneven flow.
This much recall, who learns, himself perfects.
O there may come a time when you'd not know
My Dear, you cared once, - sometimes mind deflects
An eye from verse while cursing Cupid's bow.
Moment propitious I await aware
Assured that Destiny knocks at my door,
Unready both for cupboard full or bare,
Doubting not discretion’s bottom drawer
Excluding one who longs to fold you fast
Convinced too fast may show too good to last.








Shakespeare Sonnet L


How heavy do I journey on the way,
When what I seek, my weary travel's end,
Doth teach that ease and that repose to stay,
'Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend! '
The beast that bears me, tired with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the wretch did know
His rider loved not speed, being made from thee:
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on
That sometimes anger thrusts into his side,
Which heavily he answers with a groan
More sharp to me than spurring to his side;
For that same groan doth put this in my mind:
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.


Sonnet L


Sadly I journey onward into night,
Aware that Time no longer is my friend.
Neglecting not our courtship soon could end,
Given, then withdrawn - what sorry plight.
This difference in age bodes body’s blight.
O far too much to bear alone! We wend
Mysteriously onward, knowing round Life's bend
A Fate foredrawn is [s]worn just out of sight.
My will will still distill exquisite yoke,
Alas sharp mind can’t conquer time and tide,
Understand no spurs can so provoke
Departure, distance from your precious side
Each step advancing onwards into grief
Corresponds to gaps in your belief.



Shakespeare Sonnet LI



Thus can my love excuse the slow offence
Of my dull bearer when from thee I speed:
From where thou art why should I haste me thence!
Till I return, of posting is no need.
O! what excuse will my poor beast then find,
When swift extremity can seem but slow ?
Then should I spur, though mounted on the wind,
In wingèd speed no motion shall I know:
Then can no horse with my desire keep pace,
Therefore desire of perfect'st love being made,
Shall neigh - no dull flesh - in his fiery race;
But love, for love, thus shall excuse my jade, -
'Since from thee going he went wilful-slow
Towards thee I'll run and give him leave to go.'

Sonnet LI

Shall then my love forgive my constant smiles ?
As each succeeds, each seeds another score,
Not one's begun but see, ten thousand more
Guard all Love's tides from Time's tempestuous trials.
Time beats Time to her breast, drums rise and fall -
One willing victim will to Life contract
Mating sigh and scythe, thralls interact,
After Death what Life's our wherewithal?
My love steed’s speed can’t catch, match fire’s desire
As it is consequence of heart in pawn
Unequal as unworthy of love’s lyre
Despite love’s right to chart heart constant sworn.
Each, leaving your elastic stranglehold,
Comes sprung right back, so love’s tale can be told.

Shakespeare Sonnet LII


So am I as the rich, whose blessèd key
Can bring him to his sweet up-locked treasure,
The which he will not every hour survey,
For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure.
Therefore are feasts so solemn and so rare,
Since, seldom coming, in the long year set,
Like stones of worth they thinly placed are,
Or captain jewels in the carnet.
So is the time that keeps you as my chest,
Or as the wardrobe which the robe doth hide,
To make some special instant special blest,
By new unfolding of his imprisoned pride.
Blessed are you, whose worthiness gives scope
Being had, to triumph; being lacked to hope.

Sonnet LII

So am I as a wealthy man whose key
Affords him entry to his treasure store: -
Now, far from all too frequent visits, he
Grows patient, savours pleasure measured more.
Too rare shared feasts where we may meet invited
Offering satisfaction, leisure, ease,
May ran through April’s leaves, June’s joy excited
Appreciates each moment’s gem time flees.
May time’s contagion thus be recognized
As part and parcel of both hopes and fears,
Unsure I’m certain of love catalyzed,
Dreams granted would they strong abide long years?
Earning blessings, worthiness brings scope,
Considers presence triumph, absence hope.



Shakespeare Sonnet LIII


What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend ?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;
On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new:
Speak of the spring and foison of the year,
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty does appear;
And you in every blessèd shape we know.
In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.


Sonnet LIII

She hungry makes where most She satisfies,
As if upon itself starvation fed.
Nectar divine affection’s flames supplies,
Grounds false fears, higher fires flare heart to head.
Though royal jelly's fed fair Queen of bees,
Only one Time's drumming drone defies,
Mocks Helen, Adonis, makeshift parodies,
All echo out of tune for none supplies
Magic paradigm, perfection find.
Although each season sues for pride of place,
Unworthy each, but were all four combined
Does each poor tithe possess of timeless grace.
External grace gain some, some inner worth,
Compared to Earth’s epitome, they’re mirth!





Shakespeare Sonnet LIV

O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give.
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker-blossoms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses.
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly
When summer's breath their maskèd buds discloses:
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade;
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made:
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that shall fade, my verse distils your truth.

Sonnet LIV

Sweet beauty shines! No brighter ornament
Adorned by truth, wears such a constant heart,
No fairer sound is plucked from instrument
Gleams solely one which sets your voice apart.
The Rose may counterfeit choice scented cloak
On artificial ground[s] with sense and eyes, -
Maggot feed it fades! The mighty oak,
Acorn engendered, grows strong, slows, soon dies.
Untimely rust rots blooms, strength, perfume palls,
Due praise dew drapes upon one Beauty's flower,
Elsewhere Pride falters in an hour, dour falls.
Comparing, Time mocks outward pomp and power.
Magnificence one rhyme perpetuates,
Consolidates, withstanding vain debates.





Shakespeare Sonnet LV



Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rime;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgement that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover's eyes.

Sonnet LV



Since marble bust and gilded monument
Are subject to the wear and tear of time
Naught may withstand its fickle sickle sent
Grave dust rewards all save your praise in rhyme.
Though revolutions prove traditions vain,
Oases arid end, stone tumbles down,
Magnificent, your portrait spans pain’s pane
Acheron conquers not your timeless crown.
Mem’ry, limpet, through eternity
Acknowledges your primacy must bind
Uncounted generations, posterity,
Defies doom’s tomb all others fall behind.
Extending life, Death homage thus must pay,
Confirming love survives through Judgement Day,

Shakespeare Sonnet LVI



Sweet love renew thy force; be it not said
Thy edge should blunter be than appetite,
Which but today by feeding is allay'd,
To-morrow sharpened in his former might:
So, love be thou; although to-day thou fill
Thy hungry eyes, even till they wink with fullness,
To-morrow see again, and do not kill
The spirit of love with a perpetual dullness.
Let this sad interim like the ocean be
Which parts the shore, where two contracted new
Come daily to the banks, that, when they see
Return of love, more blest may be the view;
Or, call it winter, which, being full of care,
Makes summer's welcome thrice more wished, more rare.


Sonnet LVI


So is it error where I would draw near,
And as a bee which whets its appetite
Nectar suck from you, to set alight
Great expectations daily more, more dear ?
This radiation comforts heart, charts cheer
On daily dose increasing love's delight,
May never cloy or stale, old dreams turned trite.
Always constant, Love shines crystal clear.
Meetings postponed ressemble flooding streams
Awhirl between two banks, where separation
Unjustified both helps and hinders dreams
Deferred which gleam much more in preparation:
Each Winter heralds Summer, call’s Time's bluff
Creating fresh desires, to smooth turns rough.




Shakespeare Sonnet LVII


Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire ?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour
When you have bid your servant once adieu;
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought,
Save, where you are how happy you make those.
So true a fool is love that in your will,
Though you do anything, he thinks no ill.


Sonnet LVII


Servant to your every wish, desire,
Am I who each would with affection tend,
Nor count time lost, nor yet of cost inquire,
Given all my thoughts towards you wend.
Too conscious of your absence every hour,
O! I'll not pique, but seek in sorrow joy,
Malign not those who glory in your flower -
Amazed, should thank luck’s stars for their employ.
Making sure your happiness shines bright
A top priority becomes, queers envy’s pitch,
Uneasy I would feel were all not right,
Discomfort frothing. Here see duty rich:
Each act approving, Love spins fools from squires,
Converts day’s doubts to praise, fuels future fires.

Shakespeare Sonnet LVIII



That god forbid that made me first your slave,
I should in thought control your times of pleasure,
Or at your hand the account of hours to crave,
Being your vassal, bound to stay your leisure ?
O! let me suffer, being at your beck,
The imprisoned absence of your liberty;
And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each cheek,
Without accusing you of injury.
Be where you list, your charter is so strong
That you yourself may privilege your time
To what you will; to you it does belong
Yourself to pardon, of self-doing crime.
I am to wait, though waiting so be hell,
Not blame your pleasure, be it ill or well.


Sonnet LVIII


So God forbid the day I’m yours, Divine,
Awry you’d sigh I’d try to speak your mind,
Nor verify your diary, assign,
Gleaning explanations, fault to find.
Thus soul prefers sad separation's state
Over acts which spell out jealousy,
Mad rein berate - one reign's fun, school and fate -
Adoration free from injury.
Mistress of your own free choice you’re seen,
According to whatever fancy picks,
Unwise mistakes assumed by conscience keen,
Do what you will, ignoring others’ tricks.
Enjoying wait, though waiting’s hell, my cause
Claim staked, blame ached dismissed, your will’s my laws.

Shakespeare Sonnet LIX


If there be nothing new, but what there is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled
Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss
The second burthen of a former child.
O! that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind in at first in character was done.
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Where we are mended, or where better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
O! sure I am, the wits of former days
To subjects worse have given admiring praise.

Sonnet LIX

Sundry inventions of technology
Are often sprung from ruminations passed,
Nothing new beneath the sun, say we,
Goes past but part reminds Time's sands recast.
Tiding backwards thrice ten thousand years, -
One day that may be possible for Man -
Might one be found who might your peer appear
As bright – both outer form and inner span?
Moreover those who’ll journey into space
Attempt time travel, past and future bridge,
Unequalled among each galactic race
Ideal proclaim nor time, nor place abridge.
Example better none could ever praise
Compared, all fail Time’s test ‘til end of days.




Shakespeare Sonnet LX



Like waves which make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned,
Crooked eclipses 'Gainst his glory fight,
And Time that grave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.


Sonnet LX

So must flower hours bloom until doom’s end,
As waves which break upon brake pebbled shore,
None out of sequence, all must all befriend,
Go [st]ride the tide, 'side those that flowed before.
Thus rising stars, once centre of attraction,
Old soon mature, once ripe begin to rot,
Misled who'd try to strive against subtraction, -
A gift Time swift redeems, each ‘I’ must dot,
Misled are those who would illusions nourish
Advancing parallels in beauty's brow
Untimely etched, may still be mocked by flourish,
Death grins at boasts when vainest peacocks cow.
Enriched is mode Time's inroads can withstand,
Comfort draw from rhymes which still Fate's hand,



Shakespeare Sonnet LXI


Is it thy will thy image should keep open
My heavy eyelids to the weary night ?
Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken
While shadows like to thee do mock my sight ?
Is it thy spirit that thou send'st from thee
So far from home into my deeds to pry,
To find out shame and idle hours in me,
The scope and tenor of thy jealousy ?
O, no! thy love, though much, is not so great:
It is my love that keeps mine eye awake;
Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat,
To play the watchman ever for thy sake.
For thee watch I whilst thou dost wake elsewhere,
From me far off, with others all too near.

Sonnet LXI

Slumber, with soft touch expressed, is broken
As eyelids open, drawn from weary night, -
Night whose dreams teem with tryst’s spoken token -
Gainsaying shadows shadows' place by right.
True spirit settles, sent post haste though free,
On mind at rest, best deep therein would pry,
Maturely testing, touching tenderly,
Attenuating defects tempers try.
Much love’s your dream? Mine seems much greater still,
Arresting hope for slumber for your sake
Urging sleep for hope to scope instill
Defeating urge to watch, watch burned at stake.
E’en so I know no distance, far draws near,
Confirming thoughts which, watchful, Maudewards steer.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXII




Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye
And all my soul and all my every part;
And for this sin there is no remedy,
It is so grounded inward in my heart.
Methinks no face as gracious is as mine,
No shape so true, no truth of such account;
And for myself mine own worth do define
As I all other in all worths surmount.
But when my glass shows me my worth indeed,
Beated and chopped with tanned antiquity,
Mine own self-love quite contrary I read:
Self so self-loving were iniquity.
'Tis thee, - myself, - that for myself I praise,
Painting my age with beauty of thy days.


Sonnet LXII

Sin of self-love was mine until we met,
And all my soul, my each and every part,
Navel worshipped, 'self' could not forget,
Gainsaying feelings from the inner heart.
Then magic meeting let responses rise,
Opened, instead, to twin, shed s[k]in of pride.
Mistaken, once I sought another's eyes,
Apart from you no values now abide.
Mirrow bears witness Time has taken toll
As wrinkles ride roughshod through what once shone bright,
Unsightly and dissatisfied with whole,
Drawn is affection now through your reign’s flight.
Exalting you, rebounding rainbow praise
Can shells dissolve, re-echo spellbound gaze.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXIII



Against my love shall be, as I am now,
With Time's injurious hand crushed and o'erworn;
When hours have drained his blood and fill'd his brow
With lines and wrinkles; when his youthful morn
Hath travelled on to age's steepy night;
And all those beauties whereof now he's king
Are vanishing, or vanished out of sight,
Stealing away the treasure of his spring;
For such a time do I now fortify
Against confounding age's cruel knife,
That he shall never cut from memory
My sweet love's beauty, though my lover's life:
His beauty shall in these black lines be seen,
And they shall live, and he in them still green.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXIII

Sunset sends shadows, yet an inner light
Announces gorgeous aura glows behind.
None could ignore its beacon-beckon! Blind,
Girt once to wander, wonderment, delight
Turns now to smile whose style sends second-sight.
Overwhelming happiness two find,
May dreams June’s birthday, sweet Life seems, so kind
As if minds’ melodies more joys invite.
Marred is this tableau’s optimistic write:
Age threats, ache frets, when time has wined and dined.
Urgent I store your story’s glow unpined,
Dating never, ever dated flight.
Enduring letters black on page or screen
Counter fate, love’s countless joys grow green.




Shakespeare Sonnet LXIV




When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced
The rich-proud cost of outworn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;
When I have seen the hungry ocean gain
Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,
And the firm soil win of the watery main,
Increasing store with loss, and loss with store;
When I have seen such interchange of state,
Or state itself confounded to decay;
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate -
That Time will come and take my love away.
This thought is as a death, which cannot choose
But weep to have that which it fears to lose.

Sonnet LXIV

Steamroller strange is Time, so prompt to wreak
A vengeance on all empires strong and wide,
No notice taking of terrestrial pride,
Grass razing towers, airing dungeon’s reek.
Too often lands fall into hands of clique,
Of those who store set finding poor denied,
Maturing Nature bides its time to chide
All vanity, Pride falls from zenith peak.
Mordant Time’s maws swallow player, stake,
Avenging Fate reclaiming all it lent,
Unrelentlessly see lives forsake
Due pomp once ‘indispensable’ soon spent.
Even so, though love we fear to lose,
Charmed mortal’s moods through verse reverse may choose.




Shakespeare Sonnet LXV



Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'ersways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower ?
O! how shall summer's honey breath hold out
Against the wrackful siege of battering days,
When rocks impregnable are not so stout,
Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays ?
O fearful meditation! where, alack,
Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie hid ?
Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back ?
Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid ?
O! none, unless this miracle have might,
That in black ink my love may still shine bright.

Sonnet LXV

Some thoughts, like playful kittens, trip ahead,
And trip up Fate, - which freedom hates to leave.
Nature's instincts, loving, Love believe;
Guarded against Time's whim and grim Death's dread.
This recall when age war wages - head,
Once honey, silver turns, there’s no reprieve,
Mighty little solace to deceive, -
Altered t[a]int, paint, lotions, Time stops dead!
Most steal [s]hell-bound to tomb ere their say said.
Alas no medications block last heave
Unwinding meditation’s mindless grieve,
Death draws down blinds on beauty’s gems. Instead,
Enigma: through these lines your life is spared,
Continues shining, s[t]able ink prepared.




Shakespeare Sonnet LXVI




Tired with all these, for restful death I cry
As to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimmed in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And gilded honour shamefully misplaced,
And maiden virtue rudely strumpet,
And right perfection wrongfully disgraced,
And strength by limping sway disabled,
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly - doctor-like - controlling skill,
And simple truth miscalled simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill:
Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,
Save that to die, I leave my love alone.



Sonnet LXVI


Simple truth misnamed simplicity,
And folly, fey physician, aping skill,
Needy nothing trimmed in jollity,
Grim swims despair, tides disappointment fill.
Tired with frieze mired, from these ties wise should flee
Only this shows your loss would swift ensue
Meaning negation of all good I see
A one way ticket, veil none may see through:
Maiden virtue compromised, turned strumpets,
Art hamstrung by black censure most misplaced,
Unscrupulous pols a’blowing their own trumpets
Deep faith forsworn, grace wrongfully disgraced.
Eternally clod my soul from Maude’s mirth?
Calculate! How could I quit this earth?

Shakespeare Sonnet LXVII



Ah! wherefore with infection should he live,
And with his presence grace impiety,
That sin by him advantage should achieve,
And lace himself with his society ?
Why should false painting imitate his cheek,
And steel dead seeing of his living hue ?
Why should poor beauty indirectly seek
Roses of shadow, since his rose is true ?
Why should he live, now Nature bankrupt is,
Beggared of blood to blush through lively veins ?
For she hath no exchequer now but his,
And, proud of many, lives upon his gains.
O! him she stores, to show that wealth she had
In days long since, before these last so bad.



Sonnet LXVII

Spontaneous choice feelers voice would send,
A sonnet cycle cycling postmen bring,
Nurturing wild wish two tunes should blend,
Glance, dance in tandem, you as Queen, I King!
Tendering to Beauty what by right
Only to her belongs my write, my ring,
Misplaced should never be dreams’ shared delight
As apprehensions tasked with curtain ring.
Mocking bankrupt lives flush seasons spin
Along their course, rush on, rose blush ignore,
Used up hoard sent, scent hoarded, fixèd grin
Derides ambition’s schemes, dreams’ rotten core.
Except my Maude, restored through sonnets’ worth,
Claims aims sustained which comfort all on earth.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXVIII



Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn,
When beauty liv'd and died as flowers do now,
Before these bastard signs of fair were born,
Or durst inhabit on a living brow;
Before the golden tresses of the dead,
The right of sepulchres, were shorn away,
To live a second life on second head;
Ere beauty's dead fleece made another gay:
In him those holy antique hours are seen,
Without all ornament, itself and true,
Making no summer of another's green,
Robbing no old to dress his beauty new;
And him as for a map doth Nature store,
To show false Art what beauty was of yore.


Sonnet LXVIII


Shame! there seems nothing new beneath the sun,
Add each sensation syllable of time,
Nor fact, nor fancy of some soul sublime
Grabbed from hoar maws of cause, effect, which run
Tight through reeled phase staged swiftly, scarce begun
On flash succession sprint till, cased in rime,
Memory's reconjured p[h]antomime
Attributed to dreams - ends, thread outspun.
Multiple replications one by one
Around life’s vicious circle [c]lock, their climb
Underground’s soon found as tocs_sins chime
Death’s rhyme, run rings around their story done.
Except this verse rehearsed, no map may dare
Chart artless heart unrivalled, time to spare.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXVIII



Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn,
When beauty liv'd and died as flowers do now,
Before these bastard signs of fair were born,
Or durst inhabit on a living brow;
Before the golden tresses of the dead,
The right of sepulchres, were shorn away,
To live a second life on second head;
Ere beauty's dead fleece made another gay:
In him those holy antique hours are seen,
Without all ornament, itself and true,
Making no summer of another's green,
Robbing no old to dress his beauty new;
And him as for a map doth Nature store,
To show false Art what beauty was of yore.


Sonnet LXVIII BIS

Should nothing new spun ‘neath run sun we find,
Aware Life’s Summer’s lease s[t]rings closing time,
No fancy plays save staves off grave’s quicklime.
Gleaned swift is harvest, sown by hand behind
The scenes as Cause, Effect, are interlined.
One heart throb will remain unrobbed, no rime
May Lethewards sink sentiments none mime.
All other roles unscroll like sutra signed,
Must, act played out, quit scene, cheque checked, unsigned.
As vicious circle, faceless [c]lock, whose crime
Unspoken is itself life’s token chime,
Dumb generation squandered, lost unwhined.
Exit takes leave, bow makes, yet sonnet’s tale
Confirms one swims where others sink, cheeks pale.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXIX



Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view
Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend;
All tongues - the voice of souls - give thee that due,
Uttering bare truth, even so as foes commend.
Thy outward thus with outward praise is crowned;
But those same tongues, that give thee so thine own,
In other accents do this praise confound
By seeing farther than the eye hath shown.
They look into the beauty of thy mind,
And that, in guess, they measure by thy deeds,
Then - churls, - their thoughts, although their eyes were kind,
To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds:
But why thy odour matcheth not thy show,
The soil is this, that thou dost common grow.


Sonnet LXIX


Several parts our azure spheres perceive
Await praise phrase wide world should recommend,
Narration free which virtue would commend,
Guaranteed done duty due receive.
True outward beauty little wanting leaves
Of range collective minds might rightly bend,
Might quality resplendent, perfect blend,
Acknowledge although envy, anxious, grieves.
Most gaze into the beauty of your mind,
Adduce its worth through measuring your deeds,
Underestimating both they find
Depths that their envy, churlish, clad as weeds.
Evil is who ‘evil’ would disparage,
Contradictions theirs’ your’s perfect carriage.


Shakespeare Sonnet LXX



That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
So thou be good, slander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater, being woo'd of time;
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
And thou present'st a pure unstainèd prime.
Thou has passed by the ambush of your days
Either not assailed, or victor being charged;
Yet this thy praise cannot be so thy praise,
To tie up envy evermore enlarged:
If some suspect of ill masked not thy show,
Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts should owe.


Sonnet LXX

Slander's spite to quality's attracted,
And jealousy white turns to black, would [b]lame.
News travels fast, as versions - none the same -
Gain speed as greedy grubs, by buds distracted,
Track grubby gossip down, regret wracked lack
One only blossoms pure while winter's frost
Mistreats all other buds, whose bloom is lost,
Attacked by envy beauty would bushwhack.
Mevived Life's rating, confidence called back,
Authentic state enthroned, exalted too,
Unchallenged claim to fame stays loyal to you
Despite lust’s vice which unjust cards would stack.
Exit opposition’s jealous spite,
Cone other might excite such fission’s light.
Shakespeare Sonnet LXXI


No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell:
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it; for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking of me then should make you woe.
O! if, I say, you look upon this verse,
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
But let your love even with my life decay;
Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone.

Sonnet LXXI

Spare sunless mourning sigh when I lie dead
And all hear weary surly sullen bell,
Nor, when wide world will register I've fled,
Grieve not, let late love lie, its fate don’t s[p]ell.
Thus, read through, let these true lines rest forgot,
One hand once writ - enough! I love thee so! -
Man-maid knot let slip, remember not,
As, thinking on me then might send you woe.
Memorize not, nor yet my name rehearse, -
As ‘tis not right our light should [l]earn decay.
Urned or cremated, through this simple verse
Due resurrection dissipates slate grey.
Enchanted two men may mock when I’m sped,
Compare their dearth to your mirth’s worth ahead.





Shakespeare Sonnet LXXII


0! lest the world should task you to recite
What merit lived in me, that you should love
After my death, - dear love forget me quite,
For you in me can nothing worthy prove;
Unless you would devise some virtuous lie,
To do more for me than mine own desert,
And hang more praise upon deceasèd I
Than niggard truth would willingly impart:
O! lest your true love may seem false in this
That you for love speak well of me untrue,
My name be buried where my body is,
And live no more to shame nor me nor you.
For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,
And so should you, to love things nothing worth.


Sonnet LXXII

Should our cruel world oblige you to recite,
After my death, words drawn from your rebirth,
No yarn spin out from truth, no copy-[b]right.
Gleam no fair scheme, but mask my modest girth.
Tell none some simple scribe has passed away, -
Our value would be hurt by flattery,
Muses nine at your birth had their say
And, praising you, they took, as vassal, me.
Multiple tears I’d shed, were your’s the crime
Advancing praise to overstate my worth,
Unsure these sonnets stand harsh test of time
Dread they should shame your fame upon this earth.
Ever I’d fight what might cause injury,
Compromise blessed happiness for thee.




Shakespeare Sonnet LXXIII


That time of year thou may'st in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
Tis you perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Sonnet LXXIII

Sad Autumn, turncoat, sheds its coat of leaves,
Anticipates wild Winter's shivering cold,
No trace of Summer stays, tree, threadbare, cleaves
Gathering dust, to browned rag, rotten, old.
This analogy remembering me,
One moment ponder on, I lost to light,
Meditate: naught Death defies, lives free,
As earth soon claims our rest[s], flesh, soul take flight,
Mandate to Fate’s ungrateful grate f[l]ed fame
Ashes to ashes, youth to age, dust, dust,
Used, or misused, wolf-wild or mildest tame,
Denied as nun none lust spite bust unjust,
Except: love’s spice burns hot when mortal hours
Creep close to closing time for mortal powers.






Shakespeare Sonnet LXXIV



But be contented: when that fell arrest
Without all bail shall carry me away,
My life hath in this line some interest,
Which for memorial still with thee shall stay.
When thou reviewest this, thou dost review
The very part was consecrate to thee:
The earth can have but earth, which is his due;
My spirit is thine, the better part of me:
So then thou hast but lost the dregs of life,
The prey of worms, my body being dead;
The coward conquest of a wretch's knife,
Too base of thee to be remembered.
The worth of that is that which it contains,
And that is this, and this with thee remains.


Sonnet LXXIV

So be content, for when Fate's verdict's cast,
And execution ordered without stay,
Notwithstanding all my days be passed
Glimpsed echoes of your praise a part may play,
To bring back this, from dark grave sparkled free,
One moment for those who’d choose to believe.
Miracles, which ears could hear, eyes see,
As echo pure leaves links which won’t deceive.
Mallarmé, Eluard, Flaubert and Keats,
Add fair Cassandra, Ronsard’s muse, pursue
Undying Shakespeare, each scribe vile Death Cheats,
Dante, Petrarch, their muses add thereto.
Edit echo’s wit writ through pilgrim line
Content that these through you know no decline.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXXV



So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-seasoned showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As twixt a miser and his wealth is found;
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then bettered that the world may see my pleasure:
Sometime at full with feasting on your sight,
And by and by clean starvèd for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight,
Save what is had, or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.



Sonnet LXXV


Sequent songs hymn manna mirror, life
Acts as Spring showers upon drought-thirsty ground.
Name happy day I glow, shame sad, know strife.
Gasp as grasped puppet strung twixt lost and found.
Treasure pleasure wed, sheds doubts untrue,
One moment, through shared smiles, cares disappear,
Mock locks hope's nest as, next, north’easter blew
At first all’s treasure, then, burst leisure fears.
Measure my meter’s strength should your grace glory
Articulate in my mind’s eye spry, magic,
Unsympathetic, favour’s door’s slammed story,
Despondency, dire destiny dark, tragic.
Each daily surfeit or decay depends
Clear as your mood charts cheer, fears heart ease ends.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXXVI




Why is my verse so barren of new pride,
So far from variation or quick change ?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods and to compounds strange ?
Why write I still all one, ever the same,
And keep invention in a noted weed,
That every word doth almost tell my name,
Showing their birth, and where they did proceed ?
O! know, sweet love, I always write of you,
And you and love are still my argument;
So all my best is dressing old words new,
Spending again what is already spent:
For as the sun is daily new and old,
So is my love still telling what is told.


Sonnet LXXVI


Stray verse, avoiding innovative change,
Attests these verses void of testy pride.
No new-found scheming, noisy [w]rappings strange,
Glimpse mirage superseded. Side by side
T[h]read ground scarce fancy fo[u]nd to sound same aim,
One dog, one road, one wood two could call 'home'.
Miraculous, from prison free we claim.
And each with each may mingle chromosome.
Manifestly you sole star remain
As love’s theme spins in constant orbit true,
Untiringly repeating words writ plain,
Doubling again sweet melodies of you.
Encounters past f[l]air future, maze unfold,
Charmed, daily sun repaints what can’t grow old.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXXVII



Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste:
The vacant leaves thy mind's imprint will bear,
And of this book this learning mayst thou taste.
The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show
Of mouthèd graves will give thee memory;
Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mast know
Time's thievish progress to eternity.
Look! what thy memory cannot contain,
Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
Those children, nursed, deliver'd from thy brain,
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
These offices, so oft, as thou wilt look,
Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.

Sonnet LXXVII

Spread lines reflect shed beauty which we wear,
As witness shown, blown minutes flown to waste:
No links tomorrow may our imprints bear,
Glad tidings pass, by wrinkles sad replaced.
Thus we through mirror’s silver stealth much know
Of how Time trickles to eternity.
Mountains are ground to dust by Time's fell blow,
As winds or waves of change drown earth in sea.
Memory plays tricks, may not retain
All images mind scores, too few find grace,
Unstored most run to waste, fade from the brain
Dear, on these songs imprint your hallowed trace,
Extend their half-life for your future pleasure,
Creating through the same my book’s true treasure.

Shakespeare Sonnet LXXVIII

So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse
And found such fair assistance in my verse
As every alien pen hath got my use
And under thee their poesy disperse.
Thine eyes, that taught the dumb on high to sing
And heavy ignorance aloft to fly,
Have added feathers to the learnèd's wing
And given grace a double majesty.
Yet be most proud of that which I compile,
Whose influence is thine, and born of thee:
In others' works thou dost but mend the style,
And arts with thy sweet graces gracèd be:
But thou art all my art, and dost advance
As high as learning my rude ignorance.


Sonnet LXXVIII

Steadily I have invoked one Muse,
Always found ground for inspiration fair,
Nor could I seek to profit from false ruse,
Giving false impressions, traps prepare.
Tricks I ignore, who, once dumb, sudden sing,
Occluding cloudbanks, bank on spirit soaring.
My feathers preened, new sheen is glittering,
Aroused by your reflection all adoring.
More proud remain of my poor compilation
As others’ praise but borrows from your style,
Unable to enhance your distillation
Drawing by rote remote what heart should file
Encompassing my all one represents
Chance to advance from ignorance to sense.




Shakespeare Sonnet LXXIX

Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace:
But now my gracious numbers are decayed
And my sick Muse doth give another place.
I grant, sweet love, thy lovely argument
Deserves the travail of a worthier pen;
Yet what of thee thy poet doth invent
He robs thee of, and pays it thee again.
He lends thee virtue, and he stole that word
From thy behaviour; beauty doth he give,
And found it in thy cheek: he can afford
No praise to thee but what in thee doth live.
Then thank him not for that which he doth say,
Since what he owes thee thou thyself dost pay.


Sonnet LXXIX

Sweet friendship’s face, the fountainhead of grace,
Afforded inspiration for my muse,
Now, luckless, ailing should you this refuse.
Grace object loses, subject in disgrace.
Though you deserve a neater prose than mine -
One completer, more inspired to borrow,
Martyred less by muddled thinking, sorrow;
Alas I can but harvest from one vine.
Moreover drawing virtue through your deeds
Again these are returned by beauty’s word
Unworthy praise which on all others feeds,
Deserving neither to be seen nor heard.
Extend no thanks where verses may caress,
Certain stay, they stream from source they bless.





Shakespeare Sonnet LXXX


0! how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,
And in the praise thereof spends all his might,
To make me tongue tied speaking of your fame!
But since your worth - wide as the ocean is, -
The humble as the proudest sail doth bear,
My saucy bark, inferior far to his,
On your broad main doth wilfully appear.
Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat,
Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride;
Or, being wracked, I am a worthless boat,
He, of tall building and of goodly pride:
Then if he thrive, and I be cast away,
The worst was this - my love was my decay.


Sonnet LXXX

See I stall where acclaim lame pen would write,
Aware all others your praise could proclaim,
Now tongue-tied am I where I'd most delight
Garbled wording weak speaks thoughts none claim.
Trust, worth, like Time and Space, seem infinite -
O yet they’ll fail, while only you’ll remain,
Measureless ocean wide, to second-sight
Accessible as universal g[r]ain,
Maid’s aide helps me to fly, breast heaven's height,
Although another soundless sleep would press,
Unstained his reputation, maimed my might
Destined amusement than of maid’s address.
Even should I, one day, be cast away
Curtain’s drawn behind no love’s decay.