gil
2nd Jun 2005, 12:37
On the Orange MC server, they attempted co-operative sonnets, to which I have referred in the past. Here are just a few - remember, a different person supplied each line.
In this first, it was stipulated that the last line should be:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
In winter's bitter chill and endless nights
Each twig enrimed with crystals of pure ice
Above, the mazing of the Northern Lights
Beswirls the sky; below, no paradise
So let it be. For where's the forger's flame
Would thaw this sparkling fist to muddy dew
And melt the virgin snows as o'er it came
And turned bright crystal white to green and blue?
That flame is thee, thy warm and bright demeanour
Threads its soft fire into my rimed-o'er heart
Thy radiance doth make my senses keener
And to my every step a spring impart
With vernal thoughts. So tell me why, I pray,
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
This one had no theme:
True friends' familiarity ne'er palls
'Tis constant, whether fair or foul the day
And as the faithful comrades' twilight falls
Companionship in time will time repay
When all around desert you, friends will come
With cheerful mien and jugs of foaming ale
When you require support, they will give some
And rally round, for that much needed bail.
Some falter when they altercation find
Yet they might find reserves of hidden strength
Surprising are the common ties that bind,
For our shared wit these foils have all a length
That transcends without specious condescension
The trenchant depths of gloom, rage, fear and tension
And this one, in which the initial letters had to spell Hampstead Heath:
Had I the time to wander 'pon the Heath
As in my youth I'd spend each summer eve
My joy would effloresce the grass beneath
Pervading each young stalk ere I must leave.
Single was I then, and young, and free
Transfigured by the twilight's golden glow
Each face I met would in my face then see
A burning wish to learn what others know.
Does that fair feeling steal upon me now ?
Here I recall rich Hampstead evenings past
Ere present cares had furrowed up my brow
And night so swiftly loathsome shadows cast.
Toward the Heath, my reminiscence flies
Having caught the Silverlink from Kensal Rise
In this first, it was stipulated that the last line should be:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
In winter's bitter chill and endless nights
Each twig enrimed with crystals of pure ice
Above, the mazing of the Northern Lights
Beswirls the sky; below, no paradise
So let it be. For where's the forger's flame
Would thaw this sparkling fist to muddy dew
And melt the virgin snows as o'er it came
And turned bright crystal white to green and blue?
That flame is thee, thy warm and bright demeanour
Threads its soft fire into my rimed-o'er heart
Thy radiance doth make my senses keener
And to my every step a spring impart
With vernal thoughts. So tell me why, I pray,
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
This one had no theme:
True friends' familiarity ne'er palls
'Tis constant, whether fair or foul the day
And as the faithful comrades' twilight falls
Companionship in time will time repay
When all around desert you, friends will come
With cheerful mien and jugs of foaming ale
When you require support, they will give some
And rally round, for that much needed bail.
Some falter when they altercation find
Yet they might find reserves of hidden strength
Surprising are the common ties that bind,
For our shared wit these foils have all a length
That transcends without specious condescension
The trenchant depths of gloom, rage, fear and tension
And this one, in which the initial letters had to spell Hampstead Heath:
Had I the time to wander 'pon the Heath
As in my youth I'd spend each summer eve
My joy would effloresce the grass beneath
Pervading each young stalk ere I must leave.
Single was I then, and young, and free
Transfigured by the twilight's golden glow
Each face I met would in my face then see
A burning wish to learn what others know.
Does that fair feeling steal upon me now ?
Here I recall rich Hampstead evenings past
Ere present cares had furrowed up my brow
And night so swiftly loathsome shadows cast.
Toward the Heath, my reminiscence flies
Having caught the Silverlink from Kensal Rise