Seven favorite sonnets - Karen Ruff's Blog

Here are the seven sonnets I felt were the best from my sonnet competition. I did what one of you said and copied them into Word and then tried to copy them here. It still wanted to dump them into paragraphs, but I'm hoping I have gotten them to stay the way they are supposed to be. They are all double space, which they shouldn't be, but I couldn't figure out how to get the blog to let me change that. I only hope that when I hit submit, they don't go back to paragraphs. They are not in any particular order here.

104448
Single Sonnet
Form: Sonnet

It seems the world consists of two by two,

And outcast ones are freakish by compare;

I used to be a half of two with you,

But now it’s only me, as you’re not there.

The sun appears to hide in clouds above,

My head replaying times with you around;

I see you walking with your newest love

And shuffle past, my eyes upon the ground.

I tried to keep your love but you moved on;

Attempts to reconcile have fallen flat;

All hope is lost, I know, and you are gone;

I lost, my rival won, and that is that.

Although our love has surely met its end,

I hope I will not lose you as a friend.



  

104035
Within a Storm
Form: Sonnet

Tis not the calm bright day that tests our grit

Nor guarded safe repose within our lair.

No test is it to keep a candle lit,

When winds are still and placid skies are fair.

Within the tossing tumult of a storm,

No way to steer and know where we are bound,

Where all around a knurling evil swarms,

It's there our own true inner peace is found.

So many of our demons we invent.

They circle waiting for our faith to fail.

We have within the spirit to prevent,

So even in our death we will prevail.

There in the midst of all we are set free,

To want, to love, to strive, or just to be.

Inspired By Winslow Homer's painting "The Gulf Stream"

104359
A Butterfly Sonnet
Form: Sonnet

Enraptured by a butterfly one day,

I watched her from beneath a shady tree.

She flitted all about, then stopped to stay

upon a flower; how delightfully

she lingered there, a fascinating sight!

Her wings were blue, a most enchanting hue

against the flower’s petals pink and white.

Entranced, I stared at her until she flew

away. Then suddenly I found that I

was wafting with the wind above the land!

My arms were wings the color of the sky,

and dreamily I viewed the earth so grand.

As if by magic, I turned out to be

The butterfly that captivated me!

106922
Weighing the Unmeasurable
Form: Sonnet

When love is weighed against a precious stone,

The diamond surely earns its flawless boast.

As cruel time eats flesh and powders bone,

The rock retains one form, outlasting most.

While love alone won’t even tip the scale,

The crowning jewels could own the world; 

While faith and loyalty can often fail,

The purity of gems can’t be unfurled.

Keeping love alive is an endeavor,

While a diamond’s luster never teeters.

Everyone knows diamonds are forever

Yet fragility makes love much sweeter.

White diamonds are reduced to common sand

106975
The Butterfly
Form: Sonnet

Contemplate the life of a butterfly

Oh, wonder at the beauty of its flight

Enjoy a small miracle as it flutters by

And follow its path until its out of sight

Fairy wings, but it was not always so

Metamorphosis in its family tree

A caterpillar just some time ago

Now no longer earthbound it flies free

From flower to flower drinking deep

Always on the lookout for a mate

For it has a rendezvous to keep

A brief but lovely life its fate

So when you see those gauzy wings go by

Thank God and nature for the butterfly.

  

108321
My Juliet
Form: Sonnet

Thou art to me the fairest crimson rose,

A tender bloom with dawn's first colour gilt;

Yet ev'ry flow'r in mortal clime that grows,

Is here for but a time, and then does wilt.

By all I e'er held dear, I now aver,

That though a rose may wilt, yet still 'tis sweet;

I only hope a place I could secure

In fondest adoration at thy feet.

For fairness found in form and face will fail,

But that within the heart may shine undimmed;

Though nothing for youth's beauty may avail,

A heart with golden deeds may yet be rimmed.

My Juliet, in truth I do declare,

108526
Fragrant Memories
Form: Sonnet

You know, it’s strange how much our sense of smell

Associates itself with past events.

The slightest whiff is all we need to dwell

A hundred miles away or decades hence.

The smell of new-mown hay or baking bread

Now brings to mind my happy Hampshire roots

And heady scent of hyacinth has led 

Me to a cottage in a wood where owls hoot.

The rich aroma of an open fire

With blackened teacakes on a toasting fork,

Transporting tired spirits even higher

Through fragrant bluebell woods on family walks.

So many memories, frozen in time