Sonnet of the Week — May 2, 2020
Sonnet 18 Redux
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more ugly and intemperate.
Rough choices get us to the end of May,
Our leases due by such-and-such a date.
Sometimes too hot the press’s light doth shine,
But never is your orange face paint dimmed;
And every truth from truth will oft decline,
On purpose, ‘cause your heart with lies is brimmed.
But thy infernal sun must one day fade,
And lose possession of the debt thou ow’st,
Sweet Death will drag you deep into His shade,
And in damnation’s timeless grasp thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to me.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18)
William Shakespeare — 1564-1616
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.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime 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 wand'rest 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.
I have, on occasion—particularly when the words won't come, or when I'm feeling absolutely bereft of ideas—taken to writing pastiches, composing in a style that imitates that of somebody else, usually someone I respect as an author. Young artists, in particular, do this all the time, and they should, at least for a while. As for...old...artists doing it, well, I leave that to Heaven.
Obviously, this sonnet project is one great long Shakespearean pastiche, and I continue to acknowledge that...it's a bear, every single week another one, but it's bearable. And instructive. and fun.
I eagerly await the day when my thoughts DO NOT turn to the present political climate (I apologize for that), but whatcha gonna do, ya know? It is what it is.
If you have curiosity about other pastiches I've thrust upon the site, here they are: