It includes my first (and still favorite) sonnet written as a young old man of 18 in college, "Ode to Innocence". I included it in my first published short story as well ("Eternal Quest") written not long after for a creative writing class while an undergraduate at Queens College.
Ode to Innocence
Oh half remembered, fleeting, happy time,
When nothing mattered more than love and play,
Imagination was then in its prime,
And life began anew with every day.
A flower was then a joy, a mystery,
And not a petal, root and simple stem,
And life was full of wondrous fantasy,
Untainted by the intellect of man.
That time is gone now; it cannot return,
The fruit's been swallowed; its slow poison kills,
And yet my fallen heart will always yearn,
For that ephemeral time of unknown skills.
Oh false god, knowledge, daily you destroy,
All that was holy in me as a boy!
You can download a free copy of Of Pain and Ecstasy until 12/10/2018 here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/181370