TWO
BIRTHDAY SONNETS
All
poetic forms can be considered, in some respects, constrictions. That
is, they require the following of a certain set pattern. However,
paradoxically these very restrictions can lead to further creativity.
The English or Shakespearean sonnet form illustrates this. It is
composed of three quatrains (Rhyming scheme abab, cdcd, efef) and a
finishing couplet (g,g). All lines are iambic pentameter (unstressed,
stressed syllables five
times). Because of this form you are challenged, as it were, to
express the thoughts or theme of the poem in a more elegant and
imaginative way. The first section (abab) tends to be given to the
first statement of the theme, the second a further development and
the third a penultimate conclusion or
an antithesis (opposing the trend of the first two) and the couplet
sums up the conclusion (it too can be an antithesis). All
this leads to an imaginative elaboration of the theme that can add
unexpected depths of meaning and feeling.
A
BIRTHDAY SONNET, LATE-SENT
Late
thought's a shame-faced messenger, distracted
By
idle pastimes from his path, though sent
Before
the vital drama was enacted,
Arriving
useless after real event.
It
is a tardy, last, fast-fading flower,
That
winter prophecy of dawn's first frost
Cold-withers,
robbing radiance and power-
The
blossom of it purposed beauty lost.
Yet
willing message sent, however slow,
Was
once intended good, before time's doom;
And
even fated, final flower may show
Some
moment's shining splendour in its bloom.
Likewise,
well-wishes, out of time, may be
Still
meant from heart, in late sincerity.
SONNET
-Time and the Lion Sun
(for
a Leo)
Now
out upon the boundless heights of sky,
As
winter warms to southern spring, once more
Great
golden lion looks with solar eye
To
tell time's way flows from all-being's core.
For
that deep song, far being's melody,
Is
endless in the endless yearly rounds,
Evolving
ever, life's forever tree,
Whose
leaves are singing of these secret sounds.
And
if our song seems but a bounded rhyme,
We
think on you, oh, royal lion-sun,
On
how your time is still the human time,
For
time and timelessness at heart are one.
Our phoenix time is one with
this- deep sound
Of
your eternity's great singing round.
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