Wednesday 7 September 2011

Two Sonnets


The Dance of Artemis & Eros

From the cover of shade, eyes blinking,
We can best see out into the light.
So it is that in shadows sinking,
The poet and the Muse relish Night.
The green eyes of a black cat slinking
Pierce the darkness with ethereal might,
Startling a wild deer in sudden fright
That by the waters had been drinking.
Dawn’s caress awakes the circling kite
And the sweethearts who without thinking
Reached precariously in maiden flight
Enter now their new morn, arms linking.
Fragrant petals quiver with delight,
Sprinkling like stars in the wind tonight…


I Listen with the Ears of my Love
 

I listen with the ears of my love—
What tension, what promise, and what lack!
But why write these lines, my long-lost dove,

Unless I should hope to win you back?
Shiver, shiver, for what the heart craves

Its heels unrelenting will set free,
Fire in the belly, rain on the sea,
Ripples that turn into pounding waves.
Blessings trickle at our fingertips
Where the air is fresh and milky dew
Leaves its taste upon the pristine lips
Virtue, Honesty and Laughter knew.
Can you smell the salt earth on their tongues?
Breathe deep, my Love, and revive your lungs!


—okei

14 comments:

  1. And my dude's heart she's captured...
    like unresisting prey to the rapture... hahahahah!
    Nice sonnets in doubled delight. *smile*

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  2. Thanks for reading Jach! But your comment doesn't resonate with what I intended. Actually, I don't know what I intend and it's open to interpretation. but I would much rather you got a spirit of *waking* to your love, to your deepest longing, but not capture. Rapture still sounds good though, lol. There is a hunting theme, it's true, but love's arrows never capture. They wound, they kill, and maybe they set free...

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  3. I think both are very well done, Okei! I especially liked the first, where you have the two with their arms linked. Very good use of imagery.

    Thank you for sharing your wonderful, poetic talent! ~ Blessings!

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  4. Thanks Kathy! Blessings to you too :)

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  5. Quite lovely. I should love to hear these words spoken aloud.

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  6. Thanks Rose! Maybe one day... but right now it's complicated.

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  7. I particularly liked the Dance of Artemis And Eros, Okei. All lovers, light and dark, sun and moon, man and woman, all tread the trembling, tremulous dance between ecstacy and wounds.
    Great stuff.

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  8. *3* Thanks Jon! And great to know that people prefer the first poem.

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  9. Yes I prefer the first one too. I love the first few lines:

    From the cover of shade, eyes blinking,
    We can best see out into the light.
    So it is that in shadows sinking,
    The poet and the Muse relish Night.

    I resonate with these lines, because not only do I prefer night, but also with an experience of darkness, we can better appreciate the light.

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  10. Thanks Eden! Those lines and that idea were the "seed" from which that whole poem grew. I think I got the idea when taking photographs :)

    Ironically, the second poem was almost all inspirational "seed", but perhaps it lost rhythm as a result.

    P.S. [regarding your avatar] I was thinking of taking Goethe for summer reading. In the end I didn't. I did read a lot of Nietzsche though. So Goethe's maybe for next summer. ;^)

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  11. Most people wouldn't consider Goethe or Nietzche summer reading! ;) I am still working on the Goethe.

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  12. Indeed...this is why the space of summer is needed to finish it! It's very difficult to find time to read outside holidays.

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  13. Ahhh yeees! The waking into love. But... don't we have to be captured first by its spell before we'd come to know what it is about? hahahahahah!

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