The School Sonnet

My good friends flank me smiling widely there

A ‘twin’, an ‘ex’, and kinds of all brother

To find such friends like these is not so rare

Small fights online, and then ‘sorry’ utter

We were made in the nest of that school hall

But fledglings all must fly now sonder’s known,

Into the wider world we start to crawl

Until when we avedis[1] flock: Alone

Though I slept in the house of my kin then

I had these brothers, white with tawny hair

My soul lived at the school with brethren [2]

Where stabbed was I by friend that I call near

Oh this, the joy of my getting through school

And seeing that ev’ryone be left a fool.

[1] I invented this word to describe the movement of briefly coming close together after spending time apart, only to separate again. Much like the movement of musical cymbals. The name comes from the inventor of cymbals ‘Avedis Zildjian’. Pronounced “av-ay-dees” (3 syllables)

[2] To be read as three syllables “breth-er-en”