Poem 3: Sonnet — “Shall I compare thee”, the supervisors
A sonnet about the Fairfax County supervisors and the taxman’s dark night of lies.
“Shall I compare thee”1, the supervisors,
“To the shining light which breaks th’ cloud”2 of lies,
Brought forth by th’ taxman to make annuity
As income, not as saving commonly?
To deprive relief in the golden years,
Who had paid P tax for thirty plus years.
I had three years of peace from th’ taxman way,
Whose grudge has never ev’r gone away.
They ignor’d my app for car tax relief,
And revers’d [this year’s] approval of P relief.
The taxman sees no reason to answer
To the reticent Asian taxpayer.
I yell’d to gain three years peace from th’ mighty.
If silent; th’ dark night of lies would blank’t me.
Comments on rhyme scheme
The Elizabethan/Shakespearean Sonnet has the standard rhyme scheme: a, b, a, b; c, d, c, d; e, f, e, f; g, g.
Wordsworth’s Sonnet “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” has the following scheme: a, b, b, a; c, d, d, c; e, f, e, f; e, f.
Mine: a, a (slant/half), b, b (slant/half); c, c, d, d; e, e, f, f; g, g (slant/half).
Footnotes
- I borrow the phrase from Shakespeare’s Sonnet XVIII (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?). ↩
- I borrow the image from Sir Philip Sidney’s Sonnet (Leave me, O Love, which reachest but to dust) where Line 7&8: “Which breaks the clouds and opens forth the light/That doth both shine and give us sight to see”. ↩