Oranges And Grapes Poem by Paul Hartal

Oranges And Grapes

Rating: 4.1


Oranges and grapes refuse to grow in the cold.
Today I sing and dance, refuse to grow old.
Yet all the same, time is tyrant and ruthless,
Unfolds my wrinkling years, it is relentless.

Now and then the lots seem to be gentle and kind,
But alloyed with fate the somnambulist is blind.
Luck and fortuity might act as a soubrette,
Life spins our fate like roulette in a film set.

Still, let us drink to life, celebrate, and be glad,
Let us sing and dance today, refuse to be sad.
Oranges and grapes do not grow in the cold,
A warm wind ties ribbons to maple leaves of gold.

My love soars high above trees and towers,
Carries to my beloved a bouquet of flowers.

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
This poem consists of three quatrains and a couplet in fourteen lines. A sonnet in four stanzas, it follows a rhyme scheme of aabb, ccdd, eeaa, and ff.

The word sonnet is synonymous with quatorzain, or fourteener. The 13th century Sicilian poet Giacomo da Lantini is credited as the inventor of this verse form. This genre of poetry has been popular throughout history. The names of the Italian poets Petrarch, Dante and Michelangelo are associated with the sonnet. And so is Shakespeare in England, who composed 154 sonnets, mostly in iambic pentameters.

The poem “Oranges and Grapes” forms part of the Poetry and Mathematics project implemented at Dalhousie University, Halifax. The sonnet opens the door for interdisciplinary explorations, because, among other things, it is structured in 14 lines. Number theorists point out that 14 is a composite number, its divisors being 1,2,7, and 14. It is also the sum of the first three squares (1^2 + 2^2 +3^2) and thus a square pyramidical number. Furthermore, the number 14 is associated with the polyhedron cuboctahedron, the truncated cube and the truncated octahedron, since each of these geometrical solids feature 14 faces. Another attribute of 14 links this number to Euler’s totient function.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Anat Tour 29 April 2013

Great poem! I am a big fan :)

12 0 Reply
Debbie Luxenberg 30 April 2013

A beautiful poem...from an exceptionally talented poet and writer! ! All the best Debbie

11 0 Reply
Gajanan Mishra 28 April 2013

a bouquet of flowers - love respect affection. good one, thanks.

11 0 Reply
Kim Barney 26 March 2015

Beautiful sonnet, and thanks for the note. I learned some things I didn't know about the number 14, and I taught math for a few years. I'm not familiar with Euler's totient function. I will have to look that up to see what it is. When I first read it I thought it said Euler's toilet function.

10 0 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 04 June 2016

My love soars high above the trees and towers! ! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

10 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 10 September 2023

I REPEAT THE COMMENT OF DEBBIE LUXENBERG HERE: A beautiful poem...from an exceptionally talented poet and writer!

0 0 Reply
Belle Wassermeister 24 October 2020

You certainly have a scientific mind, Paul!

0 0 Reply
A B Faniki 15 September 2019

Beautiful sonneteering and lovely rhyme and rhythm. Thanks for sharing

1 0 Reply
Me Poet Yeps Poet 11 April 2019

Still, let us drink to life, celebrate, and be glad, Let us sing and dance today, refuse to be sad. Oranges and grapes do not grow in the cold, A warm wind ties ribbons to maple leaves of gold. I LOVE SONNETS TECHNICALLY I KNOW FA BUT have composed a few loved by all u r a great sonneteer Sir ANOTHER CANADIEN BEING READ BY ALL KEEP AT IT OLD AGE IS A NUMBER ONLY

0 0 Reply
Sochukwu Ivye 18 October 2017

You have a heart for beautiful poetry. Brilliant composition.

1 0 Reply
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