When in distaste with tributes of human design (after Sonnet 29)

by Caleb Puckett

When in distaste with tributes of human design,

    I all alone celebrate my singular state,

And find strength no other can assign,

    Look upon myself, and determine my fate,

Acquiring resolve through self-directed hope,

   Featur'd like a calling, like a charge to be possess'd,

Desiring my inborn art to find a larger scope,

   With what I most enjoy, leaving the least:

Yet in these thoughts all men despising,

    Sadly I think on me,—and then their state

(Like to the drunkard at break of day arising

    With a clear mind) mocks me at glory’s gate;

For pride only comes from the accolades they bring,

    Causing me to scorn this slight song of self I sing.

Let me not to the mirage of my mind (after Sonnet 116)

by Caleb Puckett

Let me not to the mirage of my mind
   Admit desire’s independence. Regard is not love
Which alters the reciprocation it finds,
   Or bends with the consumer to remove:
O no! it is an ardent remark
   That looks on any innocence to be taken;
It is a full moon to feral barks,
   Whose hunt is known and game quickly is shaken.
Love's not Regard’sfool, though smiling lips and cheeks
   Within his bending wile’s compass come:
Love sires no knowledge with his brief hours and weeks,
   But bears the bride’s remove from the groom.
If this be the final decision upon me shoved,
   I never thought, nor any private freedom proved.