My stomach is lead with a bottomless dread
Trembling fingers mark a trepiditious hand
A fool's venture - this unpopular trend
Unveils a hack poet who's no Right Said Fred.
Where should I start and how should I tread
Rambling thoughts, the mind's fair-weathered friend.
On paper no doubt these words seem grand
But damn those critics, my efforts they'll shred.
A scenario so dire it's become a refrain
An unfortunate tale I loathe to relate
Winter or autumn - or May's summer rain
Beauty and Nature form this form's template
But so long as there's you - my bee in my bonnet
It's easy to write a Petrachan Sonnet
-------------------------
Free verse (or blank verse, if the challenge riles you) is easy to
write -- but to adhere to a rigid poetic form is exponentially
harder (and more rewarding).
This is an exercise in the Petrachan form, made
popular by Shakespeare. The first octet describes the dilemma,
while the suceeding sextet develops on the treatise established
earlier.
The heroic couplet sums up, and concludes the resolution of the
subject matter.
This was written in March, when I was trying to commit the form to
solvency.