Deep Regret Róisín Bugler

Deep Regret

For Vicky Phelan

(After Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18)

Fair to unfair sometimes declines Nothing fair in deep regret Pin striped contrition, empty chimes In a burial of misread checks.

Nothing fair in deep regret Darling shakes the stealthy state. In a burial of misread checks Lovely girls are temperate.

Darling shakes the stealthy state By chance a trimmed page is flagged Lovely girls are temperate In the shadow of death’s brag.

By chance a trimmed page is flagged Pin striped contrition, empty chimes In the shadow of death’s brag Fair to unfair sometimes declines.

Róisín Bugler