Friday, February 19, 2016

On February 2, 2016: An Odd Sonnet

It's true: you're one year older than you were just yesterday,
An unbelievable and unexpected jolt. We say,
You don't look older than you did July last year, or May,
But nineteen sixty-four? Well, yes. You have changed since, O.K.?
My answer, when they ask why you had deigned to marry me,
Has been, "A mercy marriage; no one's kindlier than she.
That's how she always manages to look so young, you see."
And they say, "Ha! You lie! We know she's only forty-three!"
The problem is, if that were true, you're wise beyond your years,
Pure wisdom, not experience, not aches, hard truths, and tears,
Have made you what you are today, not running through the gears
And coming out the other end by overcoming fears.
So, being born this day, you suffer with us and around us,
And searching for your acolytes — here, sadly, you have found us!

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

A New Look at the Past

Remember when things mattered, when a spurt
Of liquid or of drama made us cry?
You made it feel as if every good-bye
Was full of promise, every speck of dirt
A new look at the past, a sweet dessert
Of plums and ice cream, licorice and pie.
Remember when you looked me in the eye
And said, "Forget the whole thing"? I was hurt.

Was everybody treated in this way?
Was every slight so necessary, then?
I thought I was the luckiest of men
Until I heard that curt remark. Delay,
My last bright hope, lent me a donkey's bray
When song was what I needed, like a wren.