Poem: Sonnet No. 7

Fragile Friendship

People tease you about my love, don't they?
How strange to have this strange poet love you.
A penniless harlequin just won't do
when your beauty demands a knight to slay
dragons -- to rule kingdoms -- one who can say
dead and hollow things and make them sound true
(and with eloquence and arrogance too);
a well-heeled shoe to lay, love, and obey.
There was a time though, when your heart called out
to me with a sidelong glance and a smile,
when love's flower turned yellow-green and young.
It seemed to me there was nothing to doubt
back then it was happy flirting, not guile,
that made my old love yellow-green and young.

You shouldn't have let them hold your tongue.
Your lover is your heart, your friends your mind.
One makes you human, the others unkind.

In the end, with your friends, you will find
love like ours is all that really matters;
it endures, while fragile friendship shatters.

~Mike Duron (composed December 25th, 2001)