Sonnet for R.

[elspethdixon]

It's been a while since I've been possessed by the iambic pentameter demon (you know, the one that makes everything you write come out in blank verse), but after looking at angsty post-OotP fanart and meta last night, I couldn't resist inflicting Shakespearean rhyme schemes on everyone.

I swear I love thee better after death
Than e'er I did when this black heart still beat,
When mortal cares attended every breath
And worries plagued my days, and dreams, my sleep.

In life I'd obligations to fulfil
To others than thyself, and they came first.
So, though I tried my best to treat thee well,
I was not by thy side as we both wished.

I broke so many vows, and slighted thee,
And, trying to be two things, failed at both.
But death has broke all other ties on me;
These shattered vows of love are all that's left.

Now that my soul from earthly bonds is free,
It has one thought, and that one thought is thee.

Comments

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

I broke so many vows, and slighted thee,
And, trying to be two things, failed at both.

Gut-wrenching. This is so beautiful and so finely crafted. Sonnets are without doubt the hardest form of poetry in the English language to write. They compress so much into so few lines that no syllable or comma is wasted.

Brilliant work and so wonderfully sad, wistful. There are all manner of self-accusations in this and more pain than appears on the surface. Thank you for the 'infliction'. It is no infliction at all, but a gift. *G*

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it--sometimes it's hard to tell if your own poetry is honestly good or William-the-Bloody-Awful-Poet-bad, since just about any poem you write is your precious, and impartial judgement is difficult.

Sonnets are without doubt the hardest form of poetry in the English language to write

Personally, I find haiku damn near impossible (though, of course, they're technically not an English poetry form), because they have even fewer lines to work with, and I can never fit everything I want to say in. And villanelles are really, really hard as well--the super-limited rhyme scheme always ends up sounding forced when I try it.