(with apologies to Central Park)
by Jon Jacobsen (July 2018)
Hello sabbatical, my old friend
I’ve come to dwell in you again
Six years of projects slowly steeping
Left their seeds while I was teaching
And a revision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
But now it’s time, for writing
In newfound peace I write alone
Inspired beats of epic prose
No need to lay low due to writer’s cramp
Cause this is gonna be a bold revamp
Words so wise I grabbed by the flash of a deep insight
With wit so bright
‘Oh sabbatical time, for writing
And on the naked page I wrote
Ten thousand new words, maybe more
New words flocking without thinking
New words appearing without soliciting
New words writing tales that voices soon will share
And no one dared
Disturb sabbatical time, for writing
Fools, said I, you do not know
Writing like a dancer flows
Need to step away from all you do
Sabbatical time will make you feel brand new
But my words, like silent emails fell
And echoed in the spells of writing
And the editors bowed and paid
To the author awed they stayed
And reviewers hashed out adoring
In kind words that they were forming
And the papers said the words of the author are written with a Hemingway flair
So no one dare
Disturb sabbatical time, for writing