Ode to Innocence

Ode to Innocence (sonnet)

Oh half remembered, fleeting, happy time,
When nothing mattered more than love and play,
Imagination was then in its prime,
And life began anew with every day.

A flower was then a joy, a mystery,
And not a petal, root and simple stem,
And life was full of wondrous fantasy,
Untainted by the intellect of man.

That time is gone now; it cannot return,
The fruit's been swallowed; its slow poison kills,
And yet my fallen heart will always yearn,
For that most happy time of unknown skills.

Oh false god, knowledge, daily you destroy,
All that was holy in me as a boy!

From Of pain and Ecstasy: Collected Poems. You can hear my reading of this poem at https://open.spotify.com/episode/6mkiCU9b6Ey2dYZIGoGs9y?si=U_Nuen6kTaupjoNFBt_4yA

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

A really heartfelt composition. The innocence of childhood, never to return. It is indeed a loss. How I wish I could see the world through the eyes of a child again. A moving sonnet Victor, very much enjoyed. A pleasure to read your work once more.

Chris

[Victor D. Lopez]

Thank you very much, Chris. Like the protagonist in one of my earliest short stories, I wrote this sonnet in one of my undergraduate classes on Shakespeare when the professor challenged us to try to write a proper sonnet to see how challenging it is in comparison to other forms. I wrote this in 10-15 minutes as he lectured and never turned it in. It is my first and still my favorite sonnet from the heart of a young old man of 19. I miss childhood's innocence, long lost by the time I was in college, but never forgotten or far from my thoughts.