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    AC Benus
  • AC Benus
  • Author
  • 03/26/2016
  • 252 Words
  • 1,885 Views
  • 6 Comments
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

One Hundred and Fifty-Five Sonnets - 9. "Fear is a blind thing..."

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Sonnet No. 17

 

I love every aspect of you. Your mind

Is like a faceted jewel in sunlight

That no matter which way I twist I find

Refracted rainbows, crystal clear, and bright.

Then I consider your body, and how

My hands cup you in richness like the Earth –

Like I scoop sensual soil right now –

As dark and brooding as we were at birth.

And so I am brought to your soul, for it

Is no captive to light, or dirt, or time –

For as long on the world as we may sit –

It will be my model of the sublime.

Every day they mix anew and then form,

Love as the element I can transform.

 

 

Sonnet No. 18

 

Fear is a blind thing – hands before the face –

Black velvet rippling through a starless night;

Which way up; which way to a state of grace –

How dependent we grow upon our sight.

Yet sometimes I think worry is a gift,

Given to sharpen joy to a focus,

So that even from the darkness we lift

Ourselves with our weak hands from the abyss.

I know you have fears that I long to calm,

And they call out to me in clarity,

Like David's voice entreating God by psalm,

To end black nights of their austerity.

So reach out your hand to me, dear boy,

And I'll lead you where we can live in joy.

 

 

_

Copyright © 2018 AC Benus; All Rights Reserved.
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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Parker Owens

Returned to read this after being in the garden. Your words humble me and excite my senses at the same moment; the speaker thinks me rich, and full and precious and full of life. How beautifully you put it, that the soul is no captive to dirt or time, tying so very much together in four exquisite lines. And then to turn to number 18...where fear is described in full mystical measure. What a marvelous image...black velvet rippling through a starless night. Again, it is the last quatrain that haunts me, and the couplet cries out to give us hope. Many thanks for these masterful poems.

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Mikiesboy

17. You are totally in love, completely involved with the man you write about. Everything about him is beautiful to you, sensual and alive, yet evolving—changing daily.
18. Fear is a blind thing you say. Yes at first I guess, until we learn we can harness it and control our reactions to it. And maybe like you say, fear is often beaten when we support each other, can lean on each other. Take the hand of the one we love and take strength from that.
Beautiful both of these, AC. Beautiful word from a brilliant mind.
tim

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AC Benus
On 03/27/2016 06:41 AM, Parker Owens said:

Returned to read this after being in the garden. Your words humble me and excite my senses at the same moment; the speaker thinks me rich, and full and precious and full of life. How beautifully you put it, that the soul is no captive to dirt or time, tying so very much together in four exquisite lines. And then to turn to number 18...where fear is described in full mystical measure. What a marvelous image...black velvet rippling through a starless night. Again, it is the last quatrain that haunts me, and the couplet cries out to give us hope. Many thanks for these masterful poems.

Such a beautiful review; thank you, Parker. The reference to a garden, and me imagining the soil beneath your fingers, makes your encounter with my metaphoric 'dirt' all the richer. Love that!

 

I do feel fond of No. 18, and I appreciate your take on it. Thanks again for a wonderful review.

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AC Benus
On 03/27/2016 02:57 PM, Mikiesboy said:

17. You are totally in love, completely involved with the man you write about. Everything about him is beautiful to you, sensual and alive, yet evolving—changing daily.

18. Fear is a blind thing you say. Yes at first I guess, until we learn we can harness it and control our reactions to it. And maybe like you say, fear is often beaten when we support each other, can lean on each other. Take the hand of the one we love and take strength from that.

Beautiful both of these, AC. Beautiful word from a brilliant mind.

tim

Lovely take on both poems, Tim. I suppose your comments on No. 17 make me thing along the lines of evolution, but the soul of the human world – love – does not alter.

 

Your suggestions on the message of No. 18 seem beautifully stated. Thank you for a beautiful review, and your ongoing support!

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AC Benus
On 03/27/2016 10:42 PM, dughlas said:

I have no words adequate to the task ... thank you for the gift of your words.

Thank you for your words of support and kindness, Dugh. I appreciate it deeply :)

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