Sonnet IV: Hour Lives

All life with thee is given me, alive
Withal, for each, by each, to our increase;
An hour, and our lives as do we strive
A second’s brief eternity to lease.

And seconds lived eternally to gift
Us aeons whereupon, should we survive
As aeons of eternity adrift,
Not one brief second ever shall deprive

Our joy, as joy to both of us so strives.
And years as seconds nightly pass as swift
As all the teeming joy that nightly thrives;
As all the seeming seconds briefly lift.

Then cease our fleeting aeons; each survives
Release, yet fleets the seconds of our lives.  Then…

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Sonnet III: Why Weepest Thou

But true, wilt thou persist or see the way
Thou dost simplistic observations keep?
Or know, such faults as these, will oft portray
Intractable assaults when bound with sleep?

And once, when thou thy fortunes gather new
Canst thou imagine now this shining day?
Such limits spilt and providence withdrew;
Wilt thou thine old devotion disobey?

But seest thou such transcendent ways; as one
With tears of joy doth much that day push through
To innocence far greater, when begun
Thy long observed creation to undo?

Yet weep thou, and thy soul is Earthly spun
Into the deep, and ne’er to be undone.

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Sonnet III: Where I Rest

So quiet thou beside me; so austere
Dost thou confide thee, silently to sleep.
Angelic thou, delightful; though as clear
Dost thou alight believe thou safe to keep…

Thee well protected, do I; and so sweet
Thy dreaming true; mine angel wouldst appear.
And though thou art about me; so discrete
And so devoutly, shall I hold thee near…

And dearly do I wrap thee, my surround
I would enrapt, be to mine own replete.
Delight at once to hold thee and abound
That once untold, rejoice for thee complete…

And wound about thee tightly; and so deep,
Profound, and knightly… love thee; yet I weep….

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Sonnet VI: Violets

‘Til noon, before these Violets lovely stir
With bloom that splendour morning’s promised awe;
Too soon, I made my contract, drunk on her
Perfume, and swore this compact as my law;

And strewn for all, to savour all the more,
Presume this Moonlight-sweet enthralment were
Immune to circumstance; that here, before
The gloom,  ill-fortune shan’t to these occur.

From Moon unto Aspasia, then, I go,
Subsumed by Columbine ’til Dawn’s deplore,
Marooned and Wild; to Corsican I know,
Entombed this fivefold Covenant I swore;

And prune such flaws, assuming naught will show;
Festooned and drawn: my doom from long ago.

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Sonnet VIII: Borrowed Foresight

And thou when in that selfsame mirror see.
Wouldst thou when there beholdest mee be pleased?
Thy fear of future or of past; would be
Thy curiosity of all appeased?

And wouldst thou see a life thou hoped to live?
Wouldst thou with eager pride regard thou mee?
And wouldst thou mine and thy mistakes forgive?
Wouldst thou behind me happiness foresee?

And if thou knew as intimate, my life,
Wouldst thou for greater happiness contrive?
And shouldst thou know how great had been my strife,
Wouldst thou with passion greater, passion strive?

Wouldst in this knowledge thou thy fortunes thrive?
Wouldst thou with borrowed foresight come alive?

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Sonnet VII: Reflected

When I, within the mirror, thee regard;
But not of thine, which shone in silvered glass;
Nay, this, that all the many years discard;
As though no year might ever for thee pass.

So fair, thy sherry coloured hair and eyes;
Thy perfect form I see, as straight and hard;
Thy smile, seeming beautiful and wise;
And strong thy limbs, by time are nary scared.

If thou couldst know what wonders thee await;
More wondrous than most any thou surmise;
If thou couldst only see thy pain abate;
And know how much of life this pain denies.

How few thy years; alas, how little wait;
My life surpast, when thou such things instate.

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Sonnet VI: If Only Knewest Thou

If thou aboundest not with glory, seek
Thou ever this; for if thy world is rife
With glory’s joy, shalt thou abound to speak;
And shalt abound with glory in thy life.

So joyous wouldst thou ever, if thy place
Should, once, thy glory sing; although oblique,
And ne’er regard thy lack of fame, disgrace,
As such; though  fame and glory are unique.

Devoid of one another, both exist.
Though righteous one, the former may debase,
Impossible, unbidden, to resist.
So seek must thou this blessing, to embrace

That strife will fail to find thee in its midst–
The knife that in thy glory, yearns to twist.

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