I have somehow lost spring

After Sonnet XII, William Shakespeare

I have somehow lost spring

& I have no more bloom
left to count the watch

that indicates the hour & I start
to second guess beauty & the green

of being as these months become slings
of sable, as these courageous days that roll

into afflicted nights become sterile
leaves no longer canopying the minutes.

Victoria Nordlund’s poetry collection Wine-Dark Sea was published by Main Street Rag in 2020. She is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize Nominee, whose work has appeared in PANK Magazine, Rust+Moth, Chestnut Review, Pidgeonholes, and elsewhere. Visit her at VictoriaNordlund.com