Tuesday Sonnet: Merits

By john_silver

Tue, 20 Jan 2009

1030 reads

3 comments

I love the way you speak of sadness as
A gift that none of us deserves, like we
Had not done work enough to find its tree
And pluck its fruits (these our tradition has
Described as sour, and I did believe it.
I did, that is, until your gentle hand
Had fed me them, to let me understand
Which taste bears meaning. Now I know their secret).
But I’ve a special reason to deserve
The suffering I wear like one from Greece:
My fall consumed our friendship. Now I serve
The cause of solitude. It’s only fair; the piece
I asked your heart to play was yours. So swerve
Your good elsewhere, girl. Let me grieve in peace.

Comments

This is beautiful and

Permalink Submitted by jennifer on Tue, 2009-01-20 10:12

This is beautiful and incredibly sad. The line, 'to let me understand Which taste bears meaning' particularly stood out for me, with the Adam and Eve implication. I was going to say that that line in itself is too long (with the 'Now I know their secret') but upon another few readings, although it looks out of place visually, it fits in the sound scheme of the poem so well, I don't want it changed a bit. J x

Thanks Jennifer. Had been

Permalink Submitted by john_silver on Tue, 2009-01-20 17:42

Thanks Jennifer. Had been out of the site for a while and it's good to be welcomed back so warmly. :)

I agree with the above. The

Permalink Submitted by Geoff Smith on Tue, 2009-01-20 17:51

I agree with the above. The 'secret' scans as its feminine ending joins with 'believe it' in Line 5. This is very skillfully done. I'll have a look at the others now. Glad that there's a John Silver on the site.

Thanks for reading. I am grateful for your time.