“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.”
– Ashley Montagu –
Before reading this sonnet,
I think some backstory may help.
I've written this poem with multiple purposes in mind. I plan to enter it in a poetry contest that @chrisroberts is running:
Thank you, Chris, for the stimulus that got me off my couch and in front of my keyboard.
However, I also hope to embed this in a chapter of a theological fantasy series that I've always wanted to write. Whether or not I succeed at that is still up in the air. In any case, I shall keep trying.
I took this sonnet to The Writers' Block poetry workshop and got some very helpful analysis and criticism. Thanks to them, I've been able to repair some shortcomings...
However, one lingering critique—a critique I am unable to fix—is that there is not a strong enough transition from darkness to light.
Here's the problem:
The setting of this sonnet is in a fictional universe that I imagine has no dark side, no evil. The strongest contrasting elements are always comparatives. In heaven, there is no bad. It's all good - better - even better yet. And superlatives are always temporary, constantly being eclipsed.
Dear reader, I appeal to you quite seriously. If you have any thoughts about ways to make stories about a perfect universe interesting and entertaining, I would love to hear your ideas. I do have some of my own, but (on my darker days) I wonder if it will even be possible to write about perfection in an engaging way? Time will tell.
"Like the rising suns, you lit my world."
Image courtesy of NASA.
Because you are reading this sonnet out of context,
I'll mention that (in my fictional world) it was written on an Earth-like planet orbiting one of two double stars in a five-star system.
I hope to one day publish the whole story, but for now - know that this sonnet was (fictionally) written under ideal circumstances, by a man who had been enjoying engaging work and nothing but happy relationships for more than fifty years.
Everything was absolutely wonderful. Then he was...
"Surprised by Love"
~by Duncan Cary Palmer~
~
For years on end I’ve relished pleasant days,
Without a single need that went unmet,
Immersed in satisfaction, love, and praise,
My life lived large, no trace of sad regret.
Then, like the rising suns, you lit my world.
A brilliance emanates from your dark eyes.
The universe around me, now unfurled,
Your presence leaves me breathless, mesmerized.
Now suddenly, I’m speaking out of turn,
Envisioning adventures we may find,
Let’s sail on past the point of no return,
To times and destinations out of mind.
Since finding you, I’ve come to long for more,
Surprised by love I’d never known before.
~
FIN
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