the "shall i compare thee to a summer's day" variations 1 that day (in)temperate -- a clouded May with wind sedate. it replays: you shine, a bloom undimmed, in loose recline, wild, untrimmed. some moments fade (time takes its owe) to waste in shade; some moments grow: how bright i see that day with thee 2 She is a shoreline shifting day after day, a violent thrashing surf at night, a gentle tide in the morning, temperate, stormy, hope calming my brow, dismay scudding my chest, all the forgotten flotsam that wash up, inundate the present with the fractured past, the first light that shines on a beach with yesterday's footfalls smoothed away, a dim dusk that dulls the shadows of the day, a sweeping lighthouse that declines to soften, that sharpens those shadows in bursts, trim elongated reminders of debris that should fade if we could let the tides do their work, if we could owe the past less, if we could pass the mapped reefs, let the shade of passing clouds relieve the unforgiving glare, but if they grow dark and threatening, perhaps it's time to turn to the sea, to leave the shore, a pastless journey, alone yet sailworthy 3. oh my god! it's the same thing e ver yday dont' lose your temper(dontyoutellmewhattodo)ate you know she hates me. why do you listen to May? don't blame May for your 'playdate' that really shines and not her! she couldn't be any dim- a light on how you really feel. you've really practiced your lines ... mer. (she starts to trem ble) does she like your new-needless-sunglasses, your ridiculous-fade, your (she starts to cry) I ... I ... I (the sobs are tight and low) just can't ... (he wants to hold her but a heavy shade clamps him) afraid, he asks: what about tomorrow? tense, recalling the raw (what they can't unsay or unsee) repeated blows (their shared story) swung by the relentless smithy 4. day's end can come too slow, even in the winter. temperate, out of season, a breeze through leafless trees may feel moist, smell stale, past its due date, a mockery of the first breath of Spring shine, you pale bulb of a star "dim " describes you even at noon declining to add some heat to your feeble light, a white spot trimming the multicolored sky -- if all the colors are grey faded, muffled, muted: even sound longs to hibernate -- owing to the thicker air? or maybe the shaded, force swallowing days? or maybe the growing distance between point A and point Z see my mood, it's all you left me (I left you) -- these leached remainders of summer's day