Michael Coy Poet Sonnet

Woeful Victory

(Lizzie Siddall, the Pre-Raphaelite artist's
model, has just married Dante Gabriel
Rossetti ... and now regrets it.)

Why could it not have been agreeable?
What steered me down this unforgiving cleft?
Was this misfortune not foreseeable?
Why can I find no crumb of comfort left?

I longed to find a lover, thoughtful, kind,
a husband who, attentive, understands:
but now the day has dawned (alas!), I find
my triumph turns to water in my hands.

At last I comprehend what Paris meant:
each absence was his chance to play me false.
If I object, he terms it “harrassment”.
I’ve danced alone in sharp embarrassment,
and now I find I’m weary of the waltz:
I’m keeping time, but hope the music halts.

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Darren White March 3, 2017 at 2:38 AM Where did their relationship go wrong? She overdosed, I know that, they were perhaps too close? This sonnet lows beautifully and naturally and its rhyme is great! Darren White March 3, 2017 at 4:35 AM Owwww.... I didn't know that last part, that is so sad! Michael Coy March 3, 2017 at 3:40 AM As always, I'm very grateful for your informed and perceptive comments. And, as always, you know the backstory. She realised that he was stringing her along - he married her ONLY when it was clear she was dying.