Fall Elegy
A reluctant sonnet
I planned going to a writer’s conference, once, decades ago. I’d planned on entering their Shakespearean-sonnet-writing contest. They had rules. The old sonnets of Shakespeare did not deviate from the rules they shared for this contest. Then life reared its head and I could see I needed to be at home. But here’s the sonnet, anyway. What do you think? Anyone schooled in the old sonnets, out there? ❤
A creeping mist, a fading song of woe
Of robins as they’re drawn to balmy skies —
And trees applauding — as they southward go,
Console me. And I watch as summer dies.
The legacy of glory fades to brown
Where green caresses welcomed childish feet.
A final, tattered, yellow leaf floats down.
Black branches lace the heavens, courting sleet.
I rescue last tomatoes from their vines
And scuttle to elude a sudden chill.
The door blows shut and rattles all the blinds
Behind me. Then again, the house grows still.
An elegy for beauty gone; who weeps?
She is not dead — oh, no — she only sleeps.
