Sonnet 327

A nascent lily rises from the ground,
To hail the coming springtide of the year;
Though remnants of last winter still abound,
A rising chorus gently trills the air.
The sun awakens earlier each day
To warm the hearts of denizens who sing
Sweet blessings to new life in buoyant praise,
Quite certain of the joy their voices bring.
This is the time when all thoughts ponder love
And of such music, my mind turns to you,
Much like the minstrels songs borne from above
Set sure to grace the hearts of those they woo.
But I who lack their skill if not their song,
Plead out in ink a love, if proved, more strong.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Sonnet 326

She was the greatest love that never was
Though nightly I embraced her in my dreams;
Too craven yet to plead my lonely cause,
I idled still, concocting many schemes:
Might I one day accost her in the park
My ready gamp to shield her from the rain;
An underground where she might yet embark
And I, her gallant, help her board the train?
Each meeting so contrived yet none thereof
Could mollify that heart fair set to burst,
I sadly found no strength to press my love
Though in my timid mind, did what I durst.
As time begat more time, she slipped away,
Yet where she went to, none could ever say.

©Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t

The cousin of wasn’t is won’t
The sister of can’t is shan’t
The brother of couldn’t
Is clearly I wouldn’t
Though shouldn’t I’m sure is his aunt.
If you thought this silly it ‘tisn’t
If you thought this true well it ‘tain’t
That queer cousin of wasn’t
Is uncle to ‘twasn’t
And bettern’t say that he ain’t.
Now some of you think I’ve been drinking
While others still think I’m a saint
So for those who have thunk
That I’m just a drunk
The answer lies t’wixt t’were and t’waint!

©Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Sonnet 325

Her beauty was too great for words to bear,
For of those features, none could stand a peer;
A visage that would make all stop to stare
When her sweet raptured spirit floated near;
Porcelain countenance hued like clouds above,
Bright azure eyes of pure cerulean blue,
Sweet voice more gentle than a lulling dove—
By poet’s hand, an angel’s billet-doux.
What prompted gods to give her robes divine
While others oft are clad in common tweed?
Why is one floret blessed by bloom sublime
Where others share the cast of common weed?
What chance remains to question heaven’s grace …
When heart lies captive to that wondrous face.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Sonnet 324

What are the best ones you’ve written, said she;
Why, all the proud poesies fashioned for you,
Rare treasured runes I’ve penned here with glee
Applauding your beauty as all poems should do!
You’ve belauded others in similar rhyme
Extolling their virtues, this I do know,
A lady in waiting—a knave with a line
Is but a story that’s often been told.
Truth is a virtue that all bards know well —
By license of pen I’ve gilded a phrase
To uncover graces that plain words can’t tell,
But never advancing nefarious ways…
Now rest assured, as words are my bond,
Come lay beside me and hear my sweet song!

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Sonnet 323

Am I so shackled here in dated rhyme,
Fair bound and trussed, by common custom ruled,
Envying those who are tradition blind,
Pure pleasure bound and by crass chaos schooled?
Oh but the freedom of a pen unbound,
That crafts prose images in cursive stream,
Concocting scenes which by collage confound
Like baffling oddments of a drug fueled dream!
Yet where stands thought unguided by a plan,
The streaming conscience of some arcane soul,
Where mindless metaphors in sequence span:
Daft scripted emperors bereft of clothes?
I follow proud convention but to prove—
Fidelity to custom, lore and truth.
© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Sonnet 322

It is a curse that haunts the common man…
Alluring hopes of carefree better days,
While history shows throughout its endless span—
A line of hardships damned by meaner ways.
Compelled to strive and drag life’s heavy wain:
Faith whispering that he is more than beast,
Yet humbled quite in his quotidian pain;
Where life seems tribulations held in lease.
One hungered day he found some bright red fruit
Within a bowl where on was so inscribed
That he should eat as to what need would suit;
To fill it’s void, the prosperous would be plied.
Each day the void was filled with less afore—
‘Til rufous hands all scrounged that earthen floor.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Sonnet 321

No greater challenge lives than blackest ink
Truth etched in lines that softly image you;
A simple pen in hand can make one think
And thought leads on to thoughts, as thought will do.

What portraits here to paint in cursive strokes?

What passion put to page could capture worth?
What force confined to two dimensioned yoke
Might yet convey a grandeur forged in words?
Here, humbled by your beauty I still write,
Debased by peerless virtue I contend,
Compelled by timeless merit I still smite
That plain papyrus with this wanting pen;
A fool in love who dares to but appraise;
In ardor bold, yet barren still of ways.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Sonnet 320

Those quiet moments when I hold your hand,
That place of peace where words dare not intrude;
No human moment ever stood so grand
As in that simple lovers’ interlude.
For what to say when hearts soft meld as one,
Firm, constant, ever hailed by passing time,
A proof here trusted as the day borne sun
Full knowing I am yours and you are mine.
What greater tribute to the steadfast soul,
That proud commitment lived to life beyond;
So even when dank earth shall close life’s coil,
The thud of dirt can never dull the song;
Here mark me blessed, your touch alone gives proof —
Love’s simple graces can a world so move.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.

Sonnet 319

I saw you dancing at the Grand Rose ball
As ‘round that polished floor you swayed in tune,
So like a sundered blossom’s buoyant fall
You floated gently,  blown about the room.
Never had I seen such loveliness—
Such artful motion metered into song,
Yet in that moment when my gaze digressed,
The music ended and the bloom was gone.
I could not find you; though I searched in vain
Among those roses that gilt walls adorned
Whose painted smiles seemed more to mock my pain;
Their haunting perfume left my soul forlorn.
Perhaps my eyes betrayed me, so it seems…
But slumber closed, I dance with you in dreams.

© Loubert S Suddaby. All Rights Reserved.