Old Truths Will Stir
by cricketjeff on September 20, 2016. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
Proud granite cliffs no longer cage the sea,
Their cresting walls lie shattered on the sand.
The fearless face of perpetuity
Now mocked by waves that eat away the land.
At every turn we see the ruins of time,
Romantic wrecks that once stood tall and proud,
A memory of what had been sublime
Disguised beneath an age-corrupted shroud.
And in strong hearts old truths will always stir,
As years roll by we too begin to fade,
Maturity’s a skilful saboteur –
Our childish dreams are debts that must be paid
Though I know time will steal the best from me
I choose to live, not court eternity.
Author notes
I don’t think I’m quite happy with this yet, trying to write a sonnet on a page
headed by one of Shakespeare’s finest is pretty intimidating and I have to
accept there’s no point competing but I think I can polish this a little.
Prompt:
Sonnet LXIV
When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced
The rich proud cost of outworn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed,
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;
When I have seen the hungry ocean gain
Advantage on the kingdom of the shore,
And the firm soil win of the watery main,
Increasing store with loss, and loss with store;
When I have seen such interchange of state,
Or state itself confounded to decay;
Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate
That Time will come and take my love away.
This thought is as a death which cannot choose
But weep to have that which it fears to lose.
William Shakespeare
English