For Mrs. TSMK on her Birthday

Today is Mrs. TSMK's birthday.

To honor her, my first instinct was to paint her name on an overpass, or perhaps a water tower.  This is, after all, the traditional way for men of southern upbringing, such as myself, to express undying love. 

Not having access to an overpass or water tower, however, I thought I'd write her a poem.  I've done this quite a few times before (again, there's a serious dearth of water towers and overpasses where we live) - but never before put it out in the ether for the world to see.  And so, with some trepidation - Mrs. TSMK's birthday sonnet:



While time may pass, your loveliness it seems
to grow unchecked, as flowers grow in May
when all the world’s awash in raucous streams
of daffodils and roses hard at play.
But those may disappoint and slowly fade
as summer heat to autumn chill does yield.
Your beauty, grace and glory thus displayed
embarrass nature’s fickleness revealed
when first the cruel and deadly winter’s breath
strips bare the leaves of all but lonely pines
and brings to tender grasses naught but death
while ice inscribes on window pane its lines.
We sit. We love. We laugh. We talk. We sing.
Still in your warmth the precious blooms of spring.


~TSMK