Sonnet 64 by William Shakespeare

When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defac’d
The rich proud cost of outworn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-ras’d
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 wat’ry 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

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In Neglect by Robert Frost

They leave us so to the way we took,
As two in whom they were proved mistaken,
That we sit sometimes in the wayside nook,
With mischievous, vagrant, seraphic look,
And try if we cannot feel forsaken.

Robert Frost
1874–1963

The End by A. A. Milne

When I was one,
I had just begun.

When I was two,
I was nearly new.

When I was three,
I was hardly me.

When I was four,
I was not much more.

When I was five,
I was just alive.

But now I am six, I’m as clever as clever.
So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.

Alan Alexander Milne
1882–1956

On Donne’s Poetry by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

With Donne, whose muse on dromedary trots,
Wreathe iron pokers into true-love knots;
Rhyme’s sturdy cripple, fancy’s maze and clue,
Wit’s forge and fire-blast, meaning’s press and screw.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1772 — 1834

McCain by Russell Boyle

My sole strategy: speak the truth
On the country I love
The challenges we face
The promise we can achieve

Great toil awaits us:
Defeating our enemies
Advancing our ideals
Making the world better

To gain your vote
I must win your respect
Through honesty, integrity
And faith in your judgement

God bless America

Russell Boyle
Copyright © 2012

Volume 1 The Beginning
Volume 2 Footprints
Volume 3 Loneliness
Volume 4 preview poem

The Way of the World (excerpt) by William Congreve

Mrs Marwood from Act ii Scene i

True, ’tis an unhappy circumstance of life,
That love should ever die before us;
And that the man so often should outlive the lover.
But say what you will,
’Tis better to be left than never to have been loved.
To pass our youth in dull indifference,
To refuse the sweets of life because they once must leave us,
Is as preposterous as to wish to have been born old,
Because we one day must be old.
For my part, my youth may wear and waste,
But it shall never rust in my possession.

William Congreve
1670 — 1729

Watching The Wheels by John Lennon

People say I’m crazy
Doing what I’m doing
Well, they give me all kinds of warnings
To save me from ruin
When I say that I’m okay, well they look at me kinda strange
“Surely, you’re not happy now, you no longer play the game”

People say I’m lazy
Dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice
Designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I’m doing fine watching shadows on the wall
“Don’t you miss the big time boy, you’re no longer on the ball?”

I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

Ah, people ask me questions
Lost in confusion
Well, I tell them there’s no problem
Only solutions
Well, they shake their heads and they look at me as if I’ve lost my mind
I tell them there’s no hurry, I’m just sitting here doing time

I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

John Lennon
1940 — 1980