Sonnet Beyond Love Poem by Adeline Foster

Sonnet Beyond Love

Rating: 4.9


Forever in the caverns of my heart
Roam spirits of the loves I leave behind.
Ever will the echo of their touch
Leave patterns of their footsteps in my mind.
With nicks from many partings in the past
Ever will those cavern walls be lined.
Drops of mem'ry build stalagmites of the cast
Of actors in my theater of time.
Ever have my footsteps shunned the paths
That lead to those whose touch have been unkind.
Remnants of the folly of my wraths
Throw up the rocks where painful pathways wind.
Beyond a love is one that shares the pain
To clear the rubble from those paths again.

*Note how the first eight lines carry a theme and the subtle reversal of theme in the last six lines; an option of sonnets that is little known and all too often ignored.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Topic(s) of this poem: sonnet
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Delilah Miller 22 August 2007

I've always thought it wasn't just the little bit of love in my heart that kept past loves alive, but the little habits or pieces of knowledge we picked up from them. And I love sonnets and this one is certainly lovely. X's and O's

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Dr John Celes 24 August 2007

Good sonnet, I think there is a slightly off rhythm portion in the third line. Otherwise, fine! well-written, Dr John Celes

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Chuck Audette 11 December 2007

Love the imagery of the cave in this. Unusual. -chuck

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Geoff Warden 09 July 2008

I like this on, and the foot note helps to show that which otherwise may have been missed......thanks for your sharing

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Howard Johnson 17 October 2008

This a beautiful piece, enjoyed reading every word and the immages it gave by the use of carefully selected words.Excellent work Adeline,

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Edward Kofi Louis 07 July 2016

To clear the rubble from those paths again! Thanks for sharing.

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Daniel Brick 04 September 2015

Like Diane Hine, I love the closing couplet - the imagery, the life experiences revealed, the hardships, even the title - everything in those twelve lines prepares us for that closing revelation of the spiritual being BEYOND LOVE but still part of love's community. And, yes, I sensed the turning after the first 8 lines. The Italian sonneteers called this turning the VOLTA, but it doesn't apply to the Shakespearean form which is divided into quatrains. I find this Italian model much more satisfying in your skilled handling of its multiple tones. It's a complete experience of the journey to love, all the way to its source.

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Thomas Vaughan Jones 19 January 2014

I felt that L.7 lost a little in iambic structure, but that might be an accentual thing. Drops of mem'ry build stalagmites of the cast I would have liked Where memories build stalagmites of the cast But hey, it's a scan thing. The theme is lovely.

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Bri Edwards 10 January 2013

i liked what jbl wrote below about the relative importance of structure versus words in a poem... a sonnet at least i guess. adeline suggested i read this or i would never? have found it. and to answer adeline here, i don't think i have ever attempted or thought to attempt to write a sonnet. limericks yes. but i don't worry TOO much about my poems' structure, especially after a very good friend (who may have written one poem only in his life) told me my poems were too structured (or something like that) . OF COURSE each person is free to enjoy the types of poems they want and to pay as much or as little attention to structure as they wish. i do wonder: is my theater of time referring to the heart or the mind.......or both? bri.....thanks for sharing!

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Paul Brookes 04 December 2012

Great poems I will sit at the feet of the mistress and learn by reading your lines: 0)

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Adeline Foster

Adeline Foster

Instructor of poetry, Hagerstown, MD
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