The Router [1]

When various packets do headlong[2] delve in[3],
To the immense network[4] of links and nodes,
With their companions sweetly do blend in[5],
Each's[6] secret each in its payload[7] enfolds.
"O diligent Sir Router" quoth[8][9] packets,
"Wherefore detainst thou us here, us[10] thence bound?"
"Congestions, disconnections, bad circuits[11][12],
Which all can me or thy mission[13] confound.
I shall deliver with my effort best,
As I each of ye do send to next hops;
And if I be with my fit fortune blest,
Thou shalt arrive, nor be thy fellows dropped[14]."
Thus answered Router our friend[15] warm and keen,
Who at[16] next moment crashed, alack, unseen. [17]

  1. Major revision needed. This was among my first sonnets - virtually everything breaks in it. ↩

  2. fix stress ↩

  3. fix stress: though both monosyllable words, "delve" should be stronger than "in" ↩

  4. fix stress ↩

  5. fix stress ↩

  6. fix grammar ↩

  7. fix stress ↩

  8. grammar error, change to "ask" ↩

  9. add a syllable "the" to make a feminine ending ↩

  10. "here" and "us": bad "Di-Dum" separated by comma, though wildcard ↩

  11. incorrect feminine ending, missing one syllable ↩

  12. loose rhyme ↩

  13. wrong stress ↩

  14. loose rhyme ↩

  15. wrong stress, though wildcard. concrete nouns should be "DUM" ↩

  16. strange to omit "the" ↩

  17. prefer sentences in correct structure: S-V-O ↩