I have been touched
Impressed, by you
Have emotions spoken over my logic?
Harsh in tone and impulsive in decision
Never have I known this much confusion
Of matters of the heart,
Let my mind speak before my heart,
Otherwise my eyes will cry before my heart sings
You held my heart above me
Until I rose to meet it
But you are not touched by me
You cannot love me.
Yet you understand how to love me
This love cannot love me
Where is my old ball and chain?
Yours, used up and rusty by she before me
Rusted in memory of times been and gone
My ball oiled in present and future
And nothing but a chain that threatens the unrealised and the futile
Covered in muck, dust, dirt and filth,
The rods were pulled from the shed,
Brought inside, through the kitchen,
And laid all over the bed.
And the tackle box was emptied of hooks and sinkers,
Old lures, old bobs, and line,
Then the esky got emptied of the last camping trip,
Of empty old bottles of wine.
All washed and dried with thick soapy water,
Then packed to wait for the day,
When we’d all get up early and, with our tent and our beds,
We’d simply just drive away.
And the day came along, we all left the house,
Released from the old ball and chain,
We went camping and fishing, up by the river,
In a torrential, cold steady pouring rain.
Oh, you’re a club-tie glad-hand social climber
If e'er there were one, Milo Minderbinder
A meticulous craft, your quest for domination
Your smile so bowed, so proud of your lofty station
Your well-known carnival of carnal knowledge
A cornucopia of knowing carnage
The next home remodel, a newer, younger model
stole into your wine cellar, then uncorked the bottle
The old ball and chain got chained, and bald, and old
From divorce, then cancer, then down the six foot hole.
But none will sue when you’re under your newest Nun
God’s Son knew, nothing new under the sun
Skipping blithely through fortune’s emerald fields
Shh! Do you hear karma at your heels?
5/30/16
© Thomas W. Quigley
Revised 10/1/24
"Modern Sonnet"--couplet rhymes, loose with the metric feet
Gold never ending, left fourth finger ornament
Inscription inside tells the beginning date for the union
God's joining, never severed
Love's symbol placed loving by a joyous December bride
Groom's cake, the old ball and chain, red velvet, looked like a bleeding heart on the table
Friends rejoice at the final celebration of the forever union.
Lord's will, we will rock our senior years away.
When she returned back from Chicago
she wasn't quite the same woman,
She returned having dark secrets of her own
secrets that she's not revealing.
Her husband was back in Alabama
having the time of his life,
It was though he'd forgotten
that he even had a wife.
The old ball and chain was finally gone
he felt so footloose and fancy free,
But he dreaded the day that she came back home
he'd wished that she'd once again leave.
People seem to think everything's okay between them
considering in public they're always showing affection,
But the people don't know the true story about them
on their part it's just merely acting.
She just don't know that while she was away
he was fooling around with his ex,
And over in their home the ex did stay
playing the role of good wifey for a minute.
What he don't know is that while in Chicago
she'd found the man of her dreams,
And pretty soon she's making plans of returning back to Chicago
just to be once again with the man of her dreams.
Apparently, they're both keeping dark secrets
that either one doesn't want to know,
Eventually, in due time there's going to be a revealing
and over will be the charade and show.
When she returned back from Chicago
she wasn't quite the same woman,
She returned having dark secrets of her own
secrets that she's not revealing.
Her husband was back in Alabama
having the time of his life,
It was though he'd forgotten
that he even had a wife.
The old ball and chain was finally gone
he felt so footloose and fancy free,
But he dreaded the day that she came back home
he'd wished that she'd once again leave.
People seem to think everything's okay between them
considering in public they're always showing affection,
But the people don't know the true story about them
on their part it's just merely acting.
She just don't know that while she was away
he was fooling around with his ex,
And over in their home the ex did stay
playing the role of good wifey for a minute.
What he don't know is that while in Chicago
she'd found the man of her dreams,
And pretty soon she's making plans of returning back to Chicago
just to be once again with the man of her dreams.
Apparently, they're both keeping dark secrets
that either one doesn't want to know,
Eventually, in due time there's going to be a revealing
and over will be the charade and show.
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