• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Poetry Culture

‘Tennyson’ by Don Shook

May 7, 2020
in Culture, Humor, Poetry
A A
1

 

Tennyson thought it better
“to have loved and lost, than…”
Well, you know the rest.
Of course this begs the question
most of us can only guess.
Is losing ever really good,
or is this just poetic?
I know when I have lost at love
I’ve always felt pathetic.
But when the pangs of my desires
make my insides a jumble,
I leap beyond the galaxies…
Inevitably I tumble.
For love is an illusion and a
gross exaggeration;
when viewed upon the scale of lust
it’s just imagination.
So if we never love at all
what does no effort cost?
How could we know the loss of love
if we have never lost?
But if we love and lose, no pain
could rend our teardrops wetter.
So thank you, Mr. Tennyson,
but words don’t make things better.

 

 

Don Shook, wearing the many hats of actor, director, producer and author, has award-winning scripts, television shows, and theatrical productions in his bag of credits. Formally with NBC in New York, he performed at Carnegie Hall in Tom Booth’s opera “Gentlemen In Waiting”, announced on air for WNBC, and was part of “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. He also taught music and drama at Texas A&M at Commerce, Duncanville High School, Temple Jr. College, Greenville Junior High and Brookhaven College in Dallas. Mr. Shook has written five novels, four screenplays, an acting handbook and over a dozen teleplays and wrote, directed and produced three shows, in Branson, Missouri. He has conducted Masters Acting Workshops for Stage West Theatre in Fort Worth and at The Granbury Opera Academy in Granbury, Texas. www.donshook.com/dshook3

ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here
Next Post
‘HellWard Canto 11: Poetasters,’ From James Sale’s English Cantos

'HellWard Canto 11: Poetasters,' From James Sale's English Cantos

‘Better Stock Than You’ by Beverly Stock, and Other Poetry

'Better Stock Than You' by Beverly Stock, and Other Poetry

‘The Transatlantic Serpent’s Tale’ and Other Poetry by Glenn Turner

'The Transatlantic Serpent’s Tale' and Other Poetry by Glenn Turner

Comments 1

  1. Anissa Gage says:
    5 years ago

    This is absolutely delightful !

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Susan Jarvis Bryant on ‘Earth to Earthlings’ and Other Poetry
    by Susan Jarvis Bryant
    October 26, 2025

    Adam, thank you very much indeed! I'm glad to hear you find the dodo humorous. I think Lewis Carroll may…

  2. Susan Jarvis Bryant on ‘Earth to Earthlings’ and Other Poetry
    by Susan Jarvis Bryant
    October 26, 2025

    Scott, thank you very much for your kind and appreciative comments. I am glad so many of us on this…

  3. Susan Jarvis Bryant on ‘Earth to Earthlings’ and Other Poetry
    by Susan Jarvis Bryant
    October 26, 2025

    Martin, what a generous and inspirational comment. My Muse is dancing with delight and telling me to fetch my pen…

  4. Susan Jarvis Bryant on ‘Earth to Earthlings’ and Other Poetry
    by Susan Jarvis Bryant
    October 26, 2025

    ... and I absolutely love your “memento mori” observation. My personified Earth IS whispering of our own mortality. Perhaps the…

  5. Susan Jarvis Bryant on ‘Earth to Earthlings’ and Other Poetry
    by Susan Jarvis Bryant
    October 26, 2025

    Brian, as ever your comments are perceptive and generous and a pleasure to receive. Your close reading of the form…

Receive Poems in Your Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,619 other subscribers
Facebook Twitter Youtube

Archive

Categories

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Submit Poetry
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.