Remember, O Vicissitudes of Life

On prying on my mind much as ye can, Ye make me ponder what gives me deep tan, Shape, sharpen me, goad me to grow as man, Ye trim down rough contours of my raw edge, Help me add life, not just years to my age, Carve wrinkles of wisdom on my visage As cyclic spirals show in a tree trunk. Ye ensure, lessons of lifetime have sunk In, that I walk not like a hollow hunk. O forget not still, never once man is A mute witness of his circumstances That he faces, not bow to on bent knees, So how he gets to be his own master, Phoenix-like who rises from disaster. _________________________________________ Sonnets | 05.02.2007, revised Jan 2023 | Poet’s note: An atypical sonnet consisting of four three-line tercets and a couplet. The first three (nine lines) present the point, the fourth making sonnet’s counterpoint together with the sonnet-ending couplet.