Circa 1987

Insecure Couplets

If my sonnets rival those of Shakespeare,

For love, would you shed just one tear?

Does an epic straight from Spenser legend,

Make us anything more than just friends?

Perhaps I begin spouting Browning lines,

Will that fit into your design?

If I could produce some Keatsian-like odes,

Would your honest feelings be told?

Suppose I create myths worthy of Blake,

Would love be easier to take?

God forbid I need to become Donne or Burns,

Just to find your love is returned.

Even if Sylvia Plath is attempted,

Would you admit you are tempted?

If I drop my caps as e. cummings would,

Is my love really understood?

And if I sound (and look) like Robert Frost,

Would you acknowledge what that cost?

Would your love for me be that much more great,

If I were William Butler Yeats?