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Home Great Poets Geoffrey Chaucer

‘Chaucer Announces His Desire to Retire’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman

August 27, 2026
in Geoffrey Chaucer, Humor, Poetry
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depiction of Geoffrey Chaucer in stain glass (public domain)

depiction of Geoffrey Chaucer in stain glass (public domain)

 

Chaucer Announces His Desire to Retire

Whan that passing years and Father Time’s
made difficulty in my finding sounds… rhymes!
that to the ear are similar; and ere
a line’s complete I place an eye-rhyme here
to mark its termination, but end up—oft seems—
with six iambic feet, not five, while reams
of paper I’ve expended; ’tis perverse
not to retire before I face the curse
of
writing
(in
iambic’s stead)
free verse—
and also throuplets,
not couplets.

 

 

Paul A. Freeman is the author of Rumours of Ophir, a crime novel which was taught in Zimbabwean high schools and has been translated into German. In addition to having two novels, a children’s book and an 18,000-word narrative poem (Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers!) commercially published, Paul is the author of hundreds of published short stories, poems and articles.

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