Thy Fury On Some Worthless Song

Astrophil and Stella
Sonnet 100

by Sir Philip Sydney

O tears, no tears, but rain from beauty’s skies,
Making those lilies and those roses grow,
Which aye most fair, now more than most fair show,
While graceful pity beauty beautifies:
O honeyed sighs, which from that breast do rise,
Whose pants do make unspilling cream to flow,
Winged with whose breath, so pleasing zephyrs blow,
As can refresh the hell where my soul fries:
O plaints, conserved in such a sugared phrase
That eloquence itself envies your praise,
While sobbed-out words a perfect music give:
Such tears, sighs, plaints, no sorrow is but joy;
Or if such heavenly signs must prove annoy,
All mirth farewell, let me in sorrow live.

Happy 100!   This is my one-hundredth blog entry.  A milestone of sorts and a thank you to those of you that take the time to read it and find a bit of enjoyment in the ramblings of my poetic journey.

What have I learned in 7 months and 100 blog posts?  Nothing particularly profound but a few things that you might find interesting.  First, I find it fascinating how I have yet to scratch the surface of the depth of the body of sonnets by poets from around the world spanning centuries.   I have no idea how long I can keep this blog fresh and interesting, but so far, my obsession has not waned and the pond is still full of colorful poem-fish yet to bite on my curiosity’s line.

Second, I am always surprised by which posts people find interesting and read both when it’s  initially posted and then keep coming back to later on. Among the first 99 postings, the two that were most read are titled; How Many Moments Must (Amazing Each) and Gratefulness.  What about each of them is interesting and keeps people coming back to them or finding them on their google searches and reading them for the first time?  I suspect that  the common thread is both are blog posts dealing with poems of inspiration.  They are blog posts that are positive and focus on mindfulness.  The blog post Gratefulness is unusual in the depth in which I share my inner thoughts around my goal of the mindset of gratitude and welcoming gratefulness as a force capable of shaping my world view.

If you haven’t read either of the posts, type in Gratefulness or How Many Moments Must into the search bar and they will pop right up and you can check out for yourself why they are the most popular posts of the first 100 I have written.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my blog.    I welcome your feedback.  Has this blog introduced you to a new poet or a new poem that you have found memorable?

Sonnet 100

by William Shakespeare

Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget’st so long
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
Spend’st thou thy fury on some worthless song,
Darkening thy power to lend base subjects light?
Return, forgetful Muse, and straight redeem
In gentle numbers time so idly spent;
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem
And gives thy pen both skill and argument.
Rise, restive Muse, my love’s sweet face survey,
If Time have any wrinkle graven there;
If any, be a satire to decay,
And make Time’s spoils despised every where.
Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life;
So thou prevent’st his scythe and crooked knife.