…fairly grounded to the earth.  I think this must involve my science background in some way.  There is not such ambiguity as one might find in other poetry.  I think I should see what the limits of my ability to blend metaphors with concrete earthly ideas might be.  (or perhaps I should say “mix metaphors?!”)

In any event, the unfinished, yet famous “My love has wings…”/”Nightingale Woman” might be a worthy pursuit.  Since according to lore it should have been a sonnet.  Various writers have attempted to finish it while retaining, to some degree, its basic rhythm, and on the other hand, ignoring or not being able to perceive that the known lines are  indeed the first two lines of a sonnet, albeit with one syllable missing in the first line–a minor point, and not at all unusual.  In fact, sonnets appearing as early as 1600 observed pentametric rhythm without maintaining, in the strictest sense, iambic feet.  Still the five beats are heard:

My love has wings,
slender, feathered things
with grace in upswept curve
and tapered tip

These lines are often written as above, although this strikes me as a rendering to paper ones auditory impression of the lines.  But I’m no forensic expert in this matter.  For all I know, these lines might have been rendered thus in the original script (“Where no man has gone before” – Gene Roddenberry) In any case, format the lines as follows and you will see their true form begin to unfold:

My love has wings, slender, feathered things
With grace in upswept curve and tapered tip…

And due, in large part, to my reading (and writing) of many many sonnets, I would further venture that these first two lines imply an English Sonnet.  Here we have two stylistically similar lines, yet distinctly different.  The first with its internal rhyme, and missing syllable; the second with it’s five iambic feet and alliterative ending, suggest a ABAB style rhymescheme.