Sonnet 18/2, poem by Patrick T. Reardon (Half New Year Poetry Series)

SONNET 18/2
by Patrick T. Reardon

Shall I compare thee?
Thou art more lovely.
Rough winds do shake
And summer’s lease hath
Sometime too hot the eye.
And often is his gold
And every fair from fair,
By chance or nature
But thy eternal summer.
Nor lose possession.
Nor shall Death brag
When in eternal lines.
So long as men can,
So long lives this.

AUTHOR’S NOTE ABOUT HIS CREATIVE PROCESS: Is there a poem, maybe half-good, in half of a great sonnet?

IMAGE: “William Shakespeare,” watercolor portrait by Fabrizio Cassetta. Prints available at fineartamerica.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Patrick T. Reardon is the author of the recently published Catholic and Starting Out, available from actapublications. Visit him at patricktreardon.com.

 

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare

Happy 449th birthday to William Shakespeare, born April 23, 1564. (Interesting fact: Shakespeare also died on April 23 — in 1616, at age 52.)

We are currently editing the Silver Birch Press SUMMER ANTHOLOGY — a collection of poetry and prose from authors around the works — and applaud Shakespeare for writing the quintessential summer poem, which we will of course include in the SUMMER ANTHOLOGY.

To celebrate the bard’s birthday, we bring you this celebrated poem from his immortal pen.

SONNET 18
by William Shakespeare

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 dimm’d; 

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

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It’s still April — and it’s still National Poetry Month in the United States. The American Academy of Poets has developed a list of 30 ways to celebrate. One of the suggestions is to memorize a poem. We think Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare is a perfect candidate — because it’s “short…with a strong rhythmic underpinning” as the National Poetry Month site suggests.

Illustration: Shakespeare postcard from zazzle.com (on sale for just $1.03).