Sonnets
I have far fewer sonnets than haiku. This is because sonnets are a lot harder to write, basically. I write Shakespearean sonnets, which just means that the rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. If that means nothing to you, well you should have paid more attention in your literature classes. Suffice to say that Shakespearean sonnets have to rhyme and they have to rhyme in a certain way. They also need to have fourteen lines and be in iambic pentameter. If you don't know what "iambic pentameter" is, see the note above.
I was once in a production of Hamlet and, for fun, I decided to write sonnets for all the cast members. I wrote these as if they were written by Hamlet to the other character. I have included a few of the more successful poems from this batch below. If you are unfamiliar with Hamlet, go read it and then come back. I'll wait.
To Rosencrantz and/or Guildenstern
As children we ran wild through the wood.
You hid but I did find you every time.
You know this well, but yet you thought you could
Betray me now and I'd not see the crime.
In youth your two on one could not succeed
In winning from me my defended hill.
You must have known an army you would need
To 'scape my wrath if you should use me ill.
Time was when we would laugh at kings' commands,
Our hearts together bound by stronger stuff,
And now you sell me into villain's hands.
Didst count thy love and find it not enough?
My childhood faith was shattered when you lied.
Remember by your hand our friendship died.
To Claudius
Arachnid casting filaments of death,
On butterfly or moth will gladly feed.
It weaves its snares to silence buzzing breath,
This beast so small, so savage in its deeds.
The child sees the spider floating still,
Suspended 'tween the fencepost and the gate.
He smiles to know that by his act he will
Destroy its silken world and seal its fate.
Swings wide the gate and rends the spiral thread,
The spider now entangled in it lies.
This gauzy shroud that's held so many dead,
No mercy shows while its creator dies.
Such is the fate of spiders and their kin.
Wheels turn with time to net them with their sin.
For Laertes
A distant fire rages in the night.
Whose home, whose life's consumed in the flame?
In this dry season sparks will set alight
Infernos which burn all sans will or aim.
Though hearth fire feeds and campfire warms with cheer,
Though candles give us shelter 'gainst the gloom,
Yet blazes bright ignite our burning fear
And set our minds to ponder hellish doom.
Thy passioned heart is fueled too hot to cool.
To ashes wouldst thou see thy foes reduced.
Be sure thy fire's not another's tool,
For dear's the cost to quench thy temper loosed.
As fire may consume, so too can hate,
And like a blaze unchecked, the toll is great.
To Mother
Thou heldst me in thine arms when, as a boy,
I ran to thee with many a scrape and pain.
Thy face could be naught but a source of joy,
For then, as now, over my heart you reign.
What madness then was't stole thyself from thee?
What devil led thee from thy virtuous path?
What glamours did he cast that thou'd not see
Thy heavy deeds inviting Heaven's wrath?
O, wretched queen, who rules within thy breast,
Thy golden lord or trech'rous villain black?
Choose thee the former, set thy soul to rest.
Thou know'st the other sets thee on the rack.
Oh, Mother, set aside this wanton's mask.
For pardon of thy sins, thou needst but ask.
To Ophelia On Her Deathbed
Canst be this is the last I'll see thy face,
Thy skin as pale and smooth as sweetest cream?
Is't gone thy smile? Lost now thy warm embrace?
Oh, ope thine eyes and wake me from this dream!
I take thy hand in mine but find it cold.
Thy sweet breath stilled so sudden in thy breast.
So much we've left undone, so much untold,
It cannot be but this is some cruel jest.
With but a shake thou'lt rise and laugh and say,
''How could I leave thee whilst thou loved me still?''
Perhaps a kiss, as in some fairy play,
But sinks my heart at taste of thy lips' chill.
Mad guilt and grief within my heart do war
For casting thee off whom I most adore.
~And from Hamlet's sonnet to his dead Ophelia we can segue nicely into my small collection of love sonnets.~
Elemental Love
Breath sighs across thy lips when I cannot
So make thy breath my kisses while I'm gone.
Each sweet intake please taketh me in thought
Lest I of air should jealous be anon.
Of water's deep caress more jealous yet.
Those swimming fingers never pause nor rest.
On nights thou bathe alone in warm and wet
Let my hands seem to lave thy thighs and breast.
The lusty earth is greater rival still
In time he takes all maidens to his bed.
I envy not his last embrace's chill
But would my arms eterne held thee instead.
Thy fire, tunnelled deep and smold'ring waits.
Earth, sea, nor air could bar me from its gates.
night call healed of taint
My love is like a secret, sacred chant,
An echo in my veins, a throbbing, rich,
And ceaseless tide of Now that, in your hands,
Crescendos in my blood to fever pitch.
My love's a private masque, a jubilee,
A revel of the heart but one may share.
The rhythm of my love is set by thee.
If music floods my soul, thou raineth there.
How quickly have these fleeting notes of love
Now blossomed to this passionate refrain.
And future symphonies our hearts to move
Are promised in this early aching strain.
An ardent bard am I for you to keep
To play upon you soft and sound you deep.
Sonnet of Her Eyes
Cool fires light thine eyes and smolder long
They burn into the night and into me
Each glance fuels flames which grow within me strong
Each night in dreams thy warmful eyes I see
Cast thou thy gaze on me when I am cold
A humming heat thy notice shall inspire
Thus melted to be poured into thy mold
Thy form fulfilled this ingot's sole desire
My metal base once passing through thine eyes
Becomes a purer thing, a richer ore
In thy hands I'm a work of sculpted sighs
Shaped by your touch and so touched wanting more
Thy double forges burn with flames of blue
To temper my heart's edge for only you
