Shakespearean Variation: Sonnet 73
When days of life I mentally behold
as they upon the hooks of mem'ry hang,
not many feel unkind or bitter cold.
In some I danced, in others gladly sang,
and thus they shine with warming light of day
until they go to slip in evening west;
at times the hours were pouring all away;
at times they seemed to come to gentle rest.
When campers in the woods sit 'round a fire,
it bursts to heated bloom where branches lie,
then roars, then fading flames in ash expire,
then ash is scattered windward by and by.
--This is thy task, and worthy of the strong,
to love that well which thou must leave ere long.
