Aniruddha Pathak Poet Sonnet

A fountain of fragrance

Fate turned serendipitous on that day
That made was I to take a rout walked less,
My nose when felt a strange fragrance on way,
Not all unknown, devoid still of address--
For I failed to recall any a name
Until a flower bed in front I saw 
And then the tree-- lit with light all aflame,
Ah, sky jasmines, I cried out in some awe.

Indian cork trees, a stranger to bare few,
Known by flowers that hang like a lantern
In late autumn, a scene of heaven’s hue,
Five white fragrant petals a burn in sun.
I try smell the cork wood
But cork’s no sandalwood!
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Sonnet | 12.02.2026 | autumn, fate, flowers, fountain, fragrance

Note: Sky Jasmines (Millingtonia hortensis) of Indian cork tree. Buch flowers in Gujarati, Latak Chandani in Marathi, Aakash neem/Aakash Chameli in Hindi, Aakash Malli in Tamil, Seeta Haar in Bengali… 
Why a sonnet of two half lines at the end? Well, fourteen is the prevailing practice. Yet, with thirteen a sonnet defines better harmonic or golden mean considering the ratios defined by two divisions: the smaller (the sestet) to the larger (the octave) what the larger is to the whole (thirteen). But to make even number of lines for the sake of rhyming symmetry, the thirteenth line is made of two halves. So, eight plus five (full lines), not six. Also, 5 and 8 as well as the sum 13 are consecutive integers in the Fibonacci series.

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Terry Griffiths February 25, 2026 at 2:44 AM Very interesting note about why you've split the last line. I really like the image of "flowers that hang like a lantern / In late autumn".