(no subject)
Trying my hand at a sonnet with proper iambic pentameter. It's tough as hell, which gives me (if this was possible) even more respect for the old canon---and mine doesn't even rhyme.
Seers
The scientists found, by scooping mice eyes,
How we mammals mark time through optical
Photoreceptors (the mice, you should know,
Felt no pain, darkly blessed to death's coming),
Unlike birds, whose porous skeletons flood
Helplessly each dawn--and, in flashes, snakes,
At each slough briefly newborn, raw and wise.
Surely such deep sight is imitable;
Sure, we denser beings can conquer blindness!
We sense our sunsets on chilled skin--what need
The augury of fluted bones? What fear,
Mistaking flame for sunlight? Our birthright
Of fire and feathers forestalls such mistakes.
(well, yes, the mice, but you know what I mean)
Seers
The scientists found, by scooping mice eyes,
How we mammals mark time through optical
Photoreceptors (the mice, you should know,
Felt no pain, darkly blessed to death's coming),
Unlike birds, whose porous skeletons flood
Helplessly each dawn--and, in flashes, snakes,
At each slough briefly newborn, raw and wise.
Surely such deep sight is imitable;
Sure, we denser beings can conquer blindness!
We sense our sunsets on chilled skin--what need
The augury of fluted bones? What fear,
Mistaking flame for sunlight? Our birthright
Of fire and feathers forestalls such mistakes.
(well, yes, the mice, but you know what I mean)