Shall I Compare Thee? (with apologies to Wm. Shakespeare)

By Ron Wetherington

Shall I compare thee to this land, enshrined,

And thus risk bleak and unintended blame

When nature’s lovely gifts, by gods designed,

Hide blemishes that bring the match to shame?      

A summer’s day doth make thy dreams sublime

Until with ragweed’s dust fair meadows strew.

A sunset’s beauty captures all of thine,

‘Til biting flies distract us from the view.     

I shall not pair thy spirit’s lively flight

With frolicking across some flowered field,

Nor judge thine eyes against the starry night,

When, plied against thyself, must nature yield! 

In truth, must thou be ever uncompared,

And by thy leave, I pray thee, never shared!

---

Ron Wetherington is a retired professor of anthropology. He has published a novel, Kiva (Sunstone Press), and numerous short fiction, prose poems and literary essays. Read some of his work at https://www.rwetheri.com/