Juliet in Love (3)

... is in a great mood but I won't explain ...

`Reading Shakespeare in Bernadeth's status update (part 3)

Juliet 

Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear.
Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree.
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

Romeo 

It was the lark, the herald of the morn;
No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder East.
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountaintops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

from Act III (scene v)

The dawn approaches, Love, and we argue
Back-and-forth, which becomes our first aubade –
I say it is the nightingale that few
Lovers will see, but trust the night's façade;
While you believe the lark rises apace
With song that heralds now the break of day.
Oh, Love, let seconds stay upon my face –
You see what mood I'm in. The sheets we stay
In twists and pulls during the night are warm,
You know, and dawn approaches cool. You know
The reasons why there is an air of charm
From all I am – without explaining so.
This momentary love I want so much
That words slip from your disappearing touch.

Juliet in Love (Part 3) © Ron Villejo

Juliet in Love (2)

… happy but I won’t say what I’m thinking …

`Reading Shakespeare in Bernadeth's status update (part 2)

Oh, Father, dear protector of our home –
Your temper flares at moments that I wish
Were quick to pass like the flit of a gnome.
Our servants scurry with dish after dish
Of delicacies, far and near, and still
There is dissatisfaction on your brow.
Oh, Father, know that your will is my will –
Your shoulders, arms and hands, my childhood bough.
You see how happiness accompanies
My movements now, and you are happy for
The daughter whose indebtedness will please
Your kindler heart, like hardly once before –
For you will hear the things you want to hear
And not the things I think are also dear. 

Juliet in Love (Part 2) © Ron Villejo
 

Juliet in Love (1)

... is smiling but I won't say why ...

`Reading Shakespeare in Bernadeth's status update (part 1)

Go on, dear Nurse, you won’t know why such smile
Is echoing across the whole of me –
Why daylight stays with me a further mile
Into the night, that only I can see.
Go on, your naughty stories do not make
Me feel amused – instead, I’m just amused
At others’ wondering what things now break
The dour upon my face, which I long used
To hide a longing for the night to end.
Go on, deliver (with a speed no one
Can match) this envelope, and do not bend
To catch your breath or seek shade from the sun –
For what is sealed inside are answers to
His questions of a resonating blue.

Juliet in Love (Part 1) © Ron Villejo