Although I'm in the midst of a series of posts on sonnets, and although that series culminates tomorrow with the posting of some sonnets sent in by you readers, today I am going to break out of the series.
I admit that I've got ants-in-my-pants about tomorrow's post, so (to stop myself from posting it early and to distract myself) I will post a slightly tongue-in-cheek poem by Ogden Nash. I've posted from him before so I won't introduce him. If you are interested, just click on his name in the list of labels.
COMPLIMENTS OF A FRIEND
How many gifted pens have penned
That Mother is a boy's best friend!
How many more with like afflatus
Award the dog that honored status!
I hope my tongue in prune juice smothers
If I belittle dogs or mothers,
But gracious, how can I agree?
I know my own best friend is Me.
We share our joys and our aversions,
We're thicker than the Medes and Persians,
We blend like voices in a chorus,
The same things please, the same things bore us.
If I am broke, then Me needs money;
I make a joke, Me finds it funny.
I know what I like, Me knows what art is;
We hate the people at cocktail parties,
When I can stand the crowd no more,
Why, Me is halfway to the door.
I am a dodo; Me, an auk;
We grieve that pictures learned to talk;
For every sin that I produce
Kind Me can find some soft excuse,
And when I blow a final gasket,
Who but Me will share my casket?
Beside us, Pythias and Damon
Were just two unacquainted laymen.
Sneer not, for if you answer true,
Don't you feel that way about You?
4 comments:
need a break ... so i'm here
very witty and clever
loved it :)
Always loved Nash. Looking forward to the post that leaves ants in your pants.
Last two lines!
"I am restored by the Love that is you
As a blade of grass drinks the morning dew."
Sorry about that! I guess this comes of being a procrastinator...
Grace, I'm always glad to see you stop by. And extra glad if I can be some distraction from all your work!
Rethabile, Me too! I was just thinking last night that I wouldn't mind posting most of the poems from his collected works.
But sporadically, not all at once.
Rosa, Thanks, I've added them to your sonnet. A twelve line sonnet is possible but unusual. George Herbert and Skelton each had some 10 and 12 line sonnets. But I think the two lines make yours feel more complete. Thanks for sending it!
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