Looking Back

Once sonnets flowed freely from mind to page
yet now rarely have time to leave my lips
and as I now look back with somber visage
and pondering how it has come to this.

I see the ruins of abandoned blog
no posts have been written for months on end
Yet still! Visits in the visitor log!
Perhaps this is something that I can mend

Myself is the only one I can blame
I have left alone the thing that I love
Without sonneting life is not the same
So much emotion, and nowhere to shove!

I hope to restart upon the new year
I am excited! It is almost here!

A Dud in the Mouth

At the movie theater there is one treat 

That I must confess I cannot resist

Movies are well paired with something to eat

And why not eat the best thing that exists

Milk Duds are the object of my desire

I find that I must always buy a box 

Though they may cost a small bit to acquire

The candy is worth it... It really rocks!

Those small chewy nuggets of caramel

Each one coated with such sweet chocolate

Open the box... What a heavenly smell

A dud in the mouth is sure to elate!

I pop one in to chew and then savor

Oh what a wonderful burst of flavor 

Putting a Sonnet on it

A sonnet is what puts my mind at ease
even amidst all the day's craziness
I've found may other things often please,
but sonnets always bring me happiness

To think one's thoughts is but one simple thing,
to hear them spoken is quite another,
but to hear your thoughts through a sonnet sing
brings on a joy that is like no other

No matter what emotion I may face
to make poetry gives it a beauty
it's a reminder not to be erased
a portrait of my heart painted truly

To see that this art form loans such a smile
makes me think "perhaps I'll do this a while"

Agony by Proxy

He came outside with his arm in a sling
and gave a small wince with each step he took
too look at his face was to feel the sting
that he clearly showed with each painful look

He removed his shirt to apply some heat
and I saw his arm all swollen and bruised
I saw in his face, he was almost beat
by his own body so greatly abused

It gave me such pain to see him this way
the man that I love in great agony
would that I could take it on for a day
to give him the peace to rest and be freed

It's true "grief is the price we pay for love"
but why must this happen to my loved one?

The Ten Stages of Netflix Addiction

First stage: decide which show I want to watch

there are so many shows to choose from!

I scroll and scroll and yet I find no match

Stage two: I finally settle on one 

Stage three: watch an episode... and it's dumb!

then stage four: go back to look once again

I just hope I'll find something that is fun...

repeat stages one through four with no end

Stage five: finally find something that's good

Stage six: "I'll just watch one more episode"

Stage seven: binge watch far more than you should

Stage eight: at last reach the end of the road

Stage nine: realize that your show is all done

Stage ten: ... it's time to go back to stage one

The Indian Food Dilemma

I enter the Indian Restaurant
and I'm hit by the smells of the buffet
the warnings from last time which should still haunt
have with these tasty smells faded away

I don't really know just what I'm getting
but it all just looks so very tasty
but within a few minutes I'm sweating
it would seem that I have been too hasty

My tongue starts to burn but it tastes so good
I take a break for a swig of my drink
I took it, so now I'll finish this food
I know I can do it... at least I think

I finish my meal; I am satisfied
and I'm proud to say that I did not cry.

Shakespeare Sunday: Sonnet Twelve

I think about time which does age all things,
as the dark night does overtake the day,
hear the old songbird, too feeble to sing
a withered up fruit, all moldy and gray.

Melted ice cream on a hot afternoon
a car in a yard, all covered with rust
fallen down, shriveled up, day old balloons
a neglected shelf, enveloped with dust

What is it to your good looks time will do?
will they fade away just to be erased
for of beauty such as yours there is few
and you must ensure that yours is replaced

Nothing can stop time from taking your life
but in leaving kin, his gain is denied


Original:
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 silver'd 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.

Inconsistent

English is an inconsistent language
I find myself inconsistent as well
for a whole year I wrote without anguish
so soon into this one it's gone to hell

I thought perhaps I would feel some relief
without the deadline of midnight each night
but then when I think all I feel is grief
and I know that something is just not right

While sometimes to finish it was a strain
I just miss having such a great outlet
a place to write about laughter and pain
It so helped to be able to name it

Perhaps I needed a break, not the end
and it's time for me to begin again

24/6

I like writing sonnets-- really I do!
but often at night, I just want to sleep
so maybe I'll let a night or two go,
but I promise not more than once a week!

I made it a whole year writing each day
and I've found that I can do it no more
for no more poems awake I shall stay
when I'd much rather close my eyes and snore

I wish I were a better timekeeper
so I'd have them done well before bedtime
but now I choose to be a good sleeper
and I really don't think that's such a crime

Perhaps this will be an empty warning
if I can write a sonnet each morning

Training Video

Sitting in a day long training session
it's time for a video after lunch
while I am glad I chose this profession
all are as bored as me-- I have a hunch

This video is droning on and on
and in and out all these new teachers zone
The longest attention span is long gone
as almost all of us stare at our phones

I know that they have some important points
but there also is much repetition
even the trainer has long fled this joint
as he clearly expressed his opinion

If they know that their video's boring,
why do they seek to leave us all snoring?

Shakespeare Sunday: Sonnet Eleven

Though you wither now, you can bloom anew
through the offspring which you do leave behind
your bold energy need not die with you
as it becomes your kin's- no longer thine!

You have the potential for family
but also alone to wither away
your thoughts might just end all humanity-
earth would not live to see another day

Some people were just not made to bear kin,
but you hold the beauty they do not have
you cannot just hoard such beauty within
--all the beauty in the world would be halved

For people you are nature's perfect mold
Don't let the mold crumble as you grow old

Original:
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 endowed, 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.

Brain Drain

I sit down to write and stare at the page
I am posed to write, but no words come out
Some days I feel just like a sonnet sage
but others don't know what to write about

Today is just one of those "don't know" days
I suppose yesterday was one as well
there is such a blank stare upon my face
it's as if I'm under some crazy spell

All the thoughts have been drained out of my brain
I can't think of a subject or a rhyme
I want to get off of this crazy train
I hope that it does not take too much time

I think I can press on and make it through
but I might have to miss a day or two...

Morning Routine

I woke up, as normal, at 5 am
I got out of bed and I brushed my teeth
though my jammies begged me not to leave them
I had to remove my warm cozy sheath

I jumped in the shower then washed my hair,
got out, toweled off, and put on some clothes
I blow dried my hair to match what I wear
I grabbed my lunchbox and downstairs it goes

I put my breakfast in the microwave
it let out a beep as a "done" warning
I packed a lunch for my hunger to stave
now this really had been a good morning!!

But halfway to work I was when it hit
Breakfast's in the kitchen... where I'd left it!

Off the Hook

I've given my sonneting lots of thought
and still I would like to continue it
but still on one detail I am oft caught
am I overdoing it just a bit?

Should I feel the pressure for one a day?
Perhaps give myself a break now and then
I have no such wish just to go away
but sometimes I'm too tired to lift my pen

To write daily I will still do my best
but perhaps I will slip up now and then
I just do not wish to feel quite so pressed
and be able to sleep early again

My dear readers I do not wish to jilt
but I would skip a few days without guilt

A Duck and a Goose

A duck and a goose went shopping one day
the duck needed things; the goose needed more
they met and went along their merry way
as they traveled the long path to the store

They finally reached their destination
and they pushed their cart through every aisle
they stopped by every sample station
and they stayed at the store for quite a while

Hours later, the pair started to walk back
home to the lake where the two of them lived
when the goose arrived  he opened his pack
and thought that he could not himself forgive

They had spent so much time having such fun
They'd bought not a single thing... nope! not one!

Delay

The overnight low is fifteen degrees
with morning wind chill of negative five
any standing water will surely freeze
and plants will be lucky to stay alive!

But yet something good may come of this cold
even as the roads start to turn to ice
would some drivers try to be quite so bold
to take this risk would be against advice

And so tomorrow school will play it safe
and begin a whole two hours later
for two more hours in bed I can lay
I'll just sleep and forget all the haters

Actually I think it would be fine
if school started every day at nine

Shakespeare Sunday: Sonnet Ten

Oh why do you wander through life alone?
And not take your future into account
It's not hard to find love, that much is known,
but alone you can to nothing amount.

Oh why do you hold so much hate within?
Seeking to bring an end to your own name
which you should grow strong and rejoice therein
but unto which you instead bring great shame.

Please reconsider your sad way of life
rekindle your cold heart and let in love
spread love to others and end all your strife
allow yourself to bitterness remove

Oh please! I beg you that you reproduce!
or the world will such a great beauty lose

Original:
For shame deny that thou bear'st love to any,
Who for thyself art so unprovident.
Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many,
But that thou none lovest is most evident;
For thou art so possess'd with murderous hate
That 'gainst thyself thou stick'st 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 lodged 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.

Ablaze

Today I woke up with body ablaze
my arms and my legs all felt quite sore
But luck! Today I could do naught but laze
watching TV sitting there like a bore

But yesterday was not a boring day
there was much movement and activity
that is the reason I do feel this way
Oh exercise, what have you done to me?

After an hour I knew that I should stop
but I was just having way too much fun
Around and around, up and down I hopped
until finally I knew I was done

I ache again as I stretch out my hand
Oh why couldn't I stop playing Just Dance?

Unfair Conditioning

The weatherman said twenty-five degrees
so before I left I put my coat on
for if I did not, I would surely freeze
so I wrapped with the scarf I also donned

I got to the school and walked to my room
I took of my coat -- it was kind of warm!
it wasn't the usual stone cold tomb
I hoped and prayed this would be the new norm

The room was warm until after lunch time
then the temperature started to drop
The A/Cs on... who'd committed this crime??
and better still: How can I make them stop??

Perhaps this is just the truth of my school:
The room I am in will always be cool

Darkness

The darkness crept into my life unseen
when I though only light was to be found
so soon it was crawling all over me
it drank my blood, pulling me to the ground

I climbed up and briefly tasted sunlight
but was soon dragged down the depths again
it sucked from me all of my will to fight
I slipped and began to circle the drain

But down from the heavens soon reached a hand
pulling my out of this deep dark prison
back into the daylight and warmth so grand
surprised at myself for having risen

Now I try to keep one eye on the floor
to ensure that I do not fall once more

New Beginnings

Today is the first day of the new year
it is time for all to begin again
time to go back to school is almost here
but I just could not let my sonnets end

There's so much invested within this blog
So many hours spent pounding at keys
and nights with my head in a sonnet fog
leading to a result that does really please

Today marks a day of starting over
though now there is nothing that I would change
perhaps yesterday should have brought closure
but from the year I am not yet estranged

Although we are told we must say adieu
there are things that are worth holding on to