101 Poems, Number 71

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

71: Sonnet 116 (“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments”), 1609, by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

“Let me not to the marriage of

True minds admit impediments”—

This famous sonnet (deals with love!)

I read—and tried to share its sense—

At our son’s wedding: August—back

In 1999. I kept

Myself together well—till … CRACK!

I broke a bit—and then I wept.

Since then, I’ve phoned him and his wife

Upon their anniversary—

Reciting it again. The life

They’ve shared (not being cursory!)

Has earned the Bard’s most wondrous words—

The words that I have learned, in part,

So they won’t fly like startled birds

But stay and sing in mind and heart.

Link to poem.