I practiced my poesy in the dark
Where I could fancy-free all at no cost
Waited in vain for Romeo and Juliet
And created sonnets on strings of wool.

In my written, writing for a distant love,
I screamed on the rhymes, blew up the meter,
And shaking in mute I saw the love wither,
Leaving me shame-faced on grand scales of a major.

At my first recital I called to jove, whistling a tune in silence
A fathom and miles away from reality
Under the towering voice of a literature tutor, I reveled in glory
Having forgotten the rules, the written word coming.

And I gave you ‘I shall return’, playing home and away
I accepted the elegy. And ran the whole ninety yards
Through the clapping I heard you, All lamed out, lifting my heights,
But the very people I trust brought me down, ‘the people I trust’ came to be.

I took a second chance-fatefully, but in fear now,
I saw the clarion call and the piper played me a tune,
The easy in me gone, feigned I loved again, and the ode was born in me.
Strutting stuff at my feet. They lord it on me now.

You who have always expected miracles
Sat on and played my muse and more
And watched life run out of me from Junior high,
But consider the life full of charm, an elegy drawn on a waste paper.

Advertisement