By Larry Fyffe
Pointed out by Jochen Marthorst is that the lyrics that make up Bob Dylan’s song ‘No Time To Think’ can be reformulated into a series of reversed Petrarchan-like sonnets with the eight-lined octave coming after the six-lined seset with the rhyme scheme AABCCB.
That article if you have not seen it, is Dylan’s “No Time to Think”: reversing the sonnet with internal rhymes, and Eliot’s cats.”
In case you are not that familiar with the Petrarchan sonnet, the lyrics presented below demonstrate how it’s done. And in case you want to hear the song while reading the lyrics presented in this way, here once again is the cover version that Jochen selected…
The first sonnet:
In death, you face life With a child, and a wife Who sleep-walks though your dreams into walls You're a soldier of mercy And you're cold, and you curse you Cannot be trusted, must fall
(A different version than the one quoted above says “curse he” to keep the rhyme with “mercy”)
Loneliness Tenderness High society Notoriety You fight for the throne And you travel alone Unknown, as you slowly sink And there's no time to think
The second sonnet:
In the Federal City You've been blown and shown pity For secrets, for pieces of change The empress attracts you But oppression distracts you And it makes you feel violent and strange
Memory Ecstasy Tyranny Hypocrisy Betrayed by a kiss On a cool night of bliss In the valley of the missing link And there's no time to think
The third sonnet:
Judges will haunt you The country priestess will want you Her worst is better than best I've seen all these decoys Through a set of deep turquoise Eyes, and I feel so depressed China doll Alcohol Duality Mortality Mercury rules you And destiny fools you Like the plague with a dangerous wink And there's no time to think
The fourth sonnet:
Your conscience betrayed you When some tyrant waylaid you Where the lion lies down with the lamb I'd had paid the traitor And killed him much later But that's just the way that I am Paradise Sacrifice Morality Reality But the magician is quicker And his game is much thicker Than blood, and blacker than ink And there's no time to think
The fifth sonnet:
Rollin' in jealousy is All that he sells us He's contented when you're under his thumb Madmen oppose him Your kindness throws him To survive it you play deaf and dumb Equality Liberty Humility Simplicity You glance though the mirror And there's eyes staring clear At the back of your head as you drink And there's no time to think
The sixth sonnet:
Warlords of sorrow And queens of tomorrow Will offer their heads for a prayer You can't find no salvation Have no expectation Any time, any place, any where Mercury Gravity Nobility Humility You know you can't keep 'er And the water gets deeper That is leading onto the brink And there's no time to think
The seventh sonnet:
You've murdered your vanity Burned your sanity For pleasure you must now resist Lovers obey you But they cannot sway you They are not even sure you exist Socialism Hypnotism Patriotism Materialism Fools makin' laws For the breaking of jaws And the sound of the keys as they clink And there's no time to think
The eighth sonnet:
The bridge that you travel on Goes to the Babylon GIrl with the rose in her hair Starlight in the East You're finally released You're stranded with nothin' to share Loyality Unity Epitome Rigidity You turn around for one real Last glimpse at Camille 'Neath the moon shinin' bloody and pink But there's no time to think
The ninth sonnet:
Bullets can harm you And death can disarm you But, no, you will not be deceived Stripped of all virtue As you crawl through the dirt you Can give, but you cannot receive No time to choose When the truth must die No time to lose Or say good-bye No time to prepare For the victim that's there No time to suffer or blink There's no time to think
The lyrics in above video vary somewhat as well.