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THREE SONNETS

I would that we had met when we were young –
Before I heard a woman’s lying tongue,
When love was as refreshing as the rain,
As constant as the waves upon the sea,
Before I ever loved with all the heart,
Before I found that pleasure leads to pain,
Before I learned to crawl inside a shell,
As I observe that you have done as well.
I do not think that you would lie to me,
But I have made the same mistake before.
I half expect my world to fall apart.
I am not slow to anger any more.
It now is far too late to be naïve,
For I have been too many times deceived.

Lake Placid, New York, 1998



I did not want to be alone tonight.
I thought you might invite me home with you.
We once made love until the break of day,
And now you are uncertain what to do.
Your friends and family all have things to say,
And some of it is false, and some is true,
But whether they are wrong or they are right,
It serves to drive a wedge between us two.
I think that you hear much too much advice
On what is right for you and what is not.
I do not want to have to say this twice:
Perhaps we should give thanks for what we’ve got.
For once we should be following our hearts,
Or lose a precious thing before it starts.

Saranac Lake, New York, 1998



As soon as love approaches, love is gone.
It always comes to such a sudden end.
I wonder why it is that I am drawn
To women who will not be more than friends.
Perhaps we are afraid to get too close
For fear of what the both of us might see,
And so I disappear from time to time,
To spare you from the darker side of me.
When still in early stages, love is blind.
We do not see the ways that love can fail.
We do not know the things that matter most.
We do not want to look behind the veil.
For when it comes to matters of the heart,
The courtship is the most romantic part.

Saranac Lake, New York, 1998