Sonnet 777: Only Then Can You Board

At times, I like to try to write poetry – usually it gets inked in a notebook or etched in the depths of my mind where nobody will ever be able to retrieve it. This is a poem that attempts to convey the power of a passport; it’s written within the boundaries of Shakespearean sonnet conventions (3 quatrains with alternating rhyme, plus a concluding rhyming couplet, so it’s a little awkward to read!)

Sonnet 777: Only Then Can You Board

Seems Shakespeare was right: all the world’s a stage

And the men and women merely players;

Your script is outlined in one passport page,

Your value determined by false assayers.

Your worth – an imposed nationality –

Equates to the colour of one small book;

Heightening the theatricality

Of those airport checks and suspicious looks.

“Where are you from and where are you going?”

Forgo rights to withhold information

To ensure that you can board the Boeing,

You play the role and state your birth nation.

Your passport is your script – your destiny:

With power to oppress or set you free.