Copyright © 2026 Dave Hoplin
Sometimes
Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail.
Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.
A people sometimes will step back from war,
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.
Sometimes our best intentions do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.
Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail.
Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well.
A people sometimes will step back from war,
elect an honest man, decide they care
enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor.
Some men become what they were born for.
Sometimes our best intentions do not go
amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to.
The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow
that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.
Sheenagh Pugh
Postscript.
The poet hates this poem. She says people are misreading the poem, giving it unintended positivity. She asks no attribution on any of its use. I refuse as I find much needed hope in the read. See her "the dreaded Sometimes": https://sheenagh.wixsite.com/sheenaghpugh/sometimes
Sometimes things don’t go, after all, from bad to worse. Some years, muscatel faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail. Sometimes a man aims high, and all goes well. A people sometimes will step back from war, elect an honest man, decide they care enough, that they can’t leave some stranger poor. Some men become what they were born for. Sometimes our best intentions do not go amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to. The sun will sometimes melt a field of sorrow that seemed hard frozen; may it happen for you.
ReplyDeleteThere, I fixed the annoying line breaks and paragraph breaks. I also corrected an obvious misspelling. You're welcome. It's still unfocused but I'm not going to reorganize and rewrite it for the essayist.
This comment from Anonymous reads like it could be from the poet herself. Regardless, the reply made me smile but did not change my view that Sometimes is a treasure
DeleteI did fail to say thank you, so thank you. I am however a traditionalist so I prefer verse form. And I believe, the correct word is muscadel, not muscatel.
DeleteI agree. It doesn't have the same poetic and emotional weight when verse form is removed. But worthy either way.
ReplyDelete