_________________________
Childhood being a period of innocence by and large is quite blissful. The old age also can be quite so if it is truly treated as a second childhood. Life and death are equal journeys as death happens right from birth— why this sonnet is equally divided in two sestets followed by a couplet.
___________________
Thou art to soul as sleep is to my strife,
The cheeks when look rosy nor either full,
Lips red nor knees so supple as a rule,
The flesh when falters, wrinkles roar, get rife,
In feeble frame and grey forgetful brain,
And mental will when far from firm does reign.
So, come O Death as lingering night's sleep,
Come to me cooling smooth like a winter,
Or sallow, smooth like a softened summer,
For a soul that has lived full, well and deep,
To whom life seems like a day's work well done,
A night's rest well-earned to face morrow's sun.
In glimmering sunset's withering glow,
O let my old age be somewhat mellow.
___________________________________________
Sonnet |03.01.2008| life, death, old age
A friend that fishes for his selfish good,
He who flatters and placates but to please,
His sweet words venom under a veiled hood,
He, whose hiss disguises as pleasant breeze.
One not found when his friend’s lost in a wood,
Who deserts ship in need of renewed lease.
There too are friends like a pair of spare hands—
Friends that back up in times of utter strain,
In tricky turns of fate stick together,
And stretch a helping hand, pleasure or pain,
Whose counsel’s harsh but works like smooth feather,
Whose words pain, pierce like knife, prove sane.
Friends come in all shades of a rainbow band,
Yet, he that sticks closer than blood is friend.
___________________________________________
Sonnets | 05.03.2004| friend
Poet’s note: An atypical sonnet with two sestets posing a premise and a counterpoint, ending with a couplet.
Know very well why you are shedding tears;
but what you gain except remembering
that dreaded sorrowful event of past.
Makes you physically weak as I've fears
it'll affect your life, think surrendering
to HIM, HE will heal your woe, anguish fast.
Never blame yourself for that accident;
you're not at fault for the incident.
I was at the driving seat, despite years
of experience, it was my error
of judgement to decide, it appears
that stiff turning one does flee in terror;
Yet, I wasn't cautious; horn didn't reach my ears;
'twas my fault, I didn't look at the mirror.
~x~x~
The Alfred Dorn sonnet is different than most sonnets,
in that it has an Italian sestet and a Sicilian sestet
linked by a couplet.
Both sestets share common rhyme set by the first line.
The rhyme scheme is as follows;
a. b. c. a. b. c. ... d. d. ... a. e. a. e. a. e.
Pasted from http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/2006Challenge/oneten.html
Let me die from its rage
I am no Lab rat which finds jolly from the syringe
I am also human, I see no colour lest it's red...
For we all drip blood when hurt. Bring back my sanity
Liberate me from this syndrome, slash global cooperation
Playing us like a solitaire, African mental manipulation
You want to hear me say I’ll love you forever.
And yes, I well could say those very words to you:
For after all, they simply state the current truth.
But at the risk of seeming callous or uncouth
They’re also words one could easily misconstrue.
And whether couched in language simple or clever,
In timeworn expressions or phrases fresh and new,
All such words would ultimately be misleading—
For how can anyone pledge a love undying?
The future’s hidden—to deny that is lying.
And nothing lasts forever… still, since you’re needing
Reassurance, this much at least I’ll promise you:
You are the best-beloved of my heart today:
I can’t foresee I’ll ever feel another way.
November 14, 2019
NB: This is an "almost sonnet"-- but differs in line length (12 syllables instead of ten) and, instead of having three quatrains before the couplet, I have used two sestets with an ABCCBA DEFFED rhyme scheme. Also, the lines, while each of 12 syllables, do not really have any consistent metrical structure. By the bye, the word beloved here is meant to be pronounced adjectivally, that is, with three syllables: be-'LOV-ed.
sestets
If we should meet; I pray we do,
it’s first things first I’d wish for you.
If you want friends your want's begun -
an introduction to God’s Son.
Engaged in hope, I’d to hear,
"I just conversed with Him, my dear.”
That guaranteed, we two will meet,
some day to make our wants complete.
Meanwhile, through poetry I'll try
to be the friend who would not pry,
yet would not fail to tell you clear
God’s “wants” upon a time down here.
When once upon a time, you asked
to meet some writers, I unmasked
to face your spirit on the web.
Before life's tide begins to ebb,
hear now of Christ, my dearest friend,
His saving grace I recommend.
When we first met, you wished to read
my poems here, they tell my creed.
Wait! better still, to read God's word;
find hope in Psalms, the twenty-third -
I found my Shepherd all at once
fulfilled my needs as well as wants.
You’ll find in John three, seventeen
no condemnation on God’s scene.
He only wants your soul set free;
go back and read all chapter three.
You want to meet Him? You’ll be blessed
to take Him as your welcome guest.
sestets
Florida winters are not so keen.
Walking the beaches, I keep seein’
"my kids" or at least their dead ringers.
Can’t say I miss wet, sticky fingers,
cold shoulders, icy stares from my teens.
It’s warm hugs I miss, hugs that linger.
I can’t wait to get back home to Maine
and be welcomed by arms unrestrained.
Her weather left to God’s good graces;
Maine is not the coldest of places.
Of her stark wind and ice I’ll complain,
but she holds the warmest embraces.
sestets with tail rhyme
Prayers to ponder – the seventeenth of John.
Prayers for Himself – “God, glorify your Son.”
Prayers take time
Prayers for his disciples – “God, make them one.”
Prayers for us – generations unborn.
Prayers take time.
Pray-ers ask, but they listen to God too.
Pray-ers confess sins, profess faith anew.
Pray-ers make time
Pray-ers think and thank, praise Jesus as true.
Pray-ers seek mercy, find service to do.
Pray-ers make time..
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.