OK GO Goes Shakespeare

Subject matter was probably the most difficult part of this process for me. I tend to over indulge my morbid tendencies, so in an effort to hedge that leaning, I chose to do an adaptation. I've been a fan of a blog that takes popular songs and turns them into pretty good Shakespearean sonnets. Here's my attempt to sonnet-ify "Needing/Getting" by OK GO.


I’ve been waiting for months, lingering near
Til the weight of your baggaged heart will mend.
Need wraps the mind and reason disappears
Yet getting is an endless road to wend.
False dreams will a quick mind’s defense erode
If alternation in love you attempt.
Fate parts our lives with walls I can’t corrode
Grace taunts and haunts me in my snubbed lament.
I’ve been hoping for months—for years—
Hoping amnesia, dementia, disease
Cripple my mind and numb my heart with fears.
Fool! Love falls not to will or kneeling pleas.
     As such my love keeps its twice-quenched flame
     While my fixation can’t recall my name.

Trying to interpret the emotion rather than the specific diction was a challenge but also fascinating. I tried to channel my own recent relationship, but I also wanted to maintain the simple message of their song.