Label not the table upon which
Great deeds are done, a thing of common wood.
Think of the Good Ship Venus and the pitch
Of stormy seas and how her TABLE stood
Foursquare despite the poundings it received
From every side, but chiefly from ABOVE.
Ponder immortal Mabel, late and grieved,
And how it held her up in throes of love.
Surely, before her time, the very name
Was not TABLE but elbat, gronk or grinsigallupgrounce.
Surely our thanks are due that august dame
For giving us a word we can pronounce.
Conscious of this, did I indite this sonnet
Of Mabel's Table and deeds done upon it.
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©Renate Mitchell. May not be reproduced in any form online or offline without explicit written permission.