How Do I Love You? (Sonnet Corona) Poem by Gert Strydom

How Do I Love You? (Sonnet Corona)



(after Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

I

There is no way
that I can truly express my love for you,
the yearning of every day
not even in the things that I say and do,

the simple things
that fit into the puzzle of life,
and heartfelt tidings
outbalances the every day strife

that comes naturally to a consort, or wife
is all unclear in the quite need,
and its truth never pierces like a knife,
it is from beyond any act or deed

but is like childhood faith, without pain
it’s somewhat difficult to explain.

II

It’s somewhat difficult to explain
how love is supposed to be
in rays of sunlight, drops of rain
and everything that we see

totally without iniquity
even in sorrow, pain, joy,
as a natural instinct, sprouting free
from every ploy

or whatever life brings, in sincerity
it is in every heart beat, every breath,
the things that you are to me
surpassing even the power of death,

that against adversity can endure
as something sweet, something pure.


III

As something sweet, something pure,
our love is always striving to be true
coming free from any pressure and being sure
it bonds me to you in all that I pursue,

my world, everything that is dear,
gets a own clarity
when you are near and without fear
we take on the responsibility

that living together brings
loosing ourselves in each other,
finding meaning in small happenings
in things that brings blithe and bother

and I am attracted to you’re dear smiling face;
you surpass any other grace.


IV


You surpass any other grace
beauty or splendour that I do see,
everything is in the praise
of you who loves me,

blessed I am among men
to have found a heart as kind,
that comes alive when
I am near and if I call to mind

among the greatest things that I have experienced
you reign supreme with your lasting love
that comes unprejudiced
as the finest blessing from above:

in every single day I am truly alive;
although we are hardly yet through the fight of life.


V

Although we are hardly yet through the fight of life,
still with time we struggle on,
you are the one
who supports me, as my sentry, my dearest wife

and through the strife
that destiny demands, until it is done
no one can leave each other or be gone
as we are bonded and the challenges is rife,

we live with no lies, with truth between us,
we walk hand in hand and eye to eye
although sometimes we are frightened,
every thing we do discuss,
as children of God under the clear blue sky,
to each other we have opened.


VI

To each other we have opened,
the doors of our hearts and souls
we have straightened,
the lines of our narrow lives, letting out the ghouls,

we have experienced the secrets of the body’s bliss
have unbarred our inner selves, every windowpane
in every single kiss
with warmth and understanding tried to explain

the beauty of loving each other
we have opened doors that cannot be shut again
in sheer nudity without a bother,
we have bonded without restrain

and I read intimacy as time flies,
in the silences in your eyes.


VII

In the silences in your eyes
there is an own language and every gesture
have more hues to it than the skies
in its structure, it’s simplicities and its nature

and some things I do not comprehend or hear
while you unfold with petals while you are flowering,
as I am far too near to distinguish lustrous things as clear
and it’s as if I am in the middle of spring

and the fragility with which you unfold,
is very striking, takes my breath away, taking it hither
while I hold you in the cold
of this winter, as if it will whither,

as if like a blooming rose you cannot stay,
there is no way.

[Reference: Sonnet XLIII “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.]

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Gert Strydom

Gert Strydom

Johannesburg, South Africa
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