Eons that I chased for a pie in sky,
You not but said, no or I, hum or ho,
Me always wondering what, what if, why,
As you resolved were to remain just so,
I felt we aught go yon of this no go,
And would much rather an affirming I,
Or cut-and-dried, honest and bare nude no
To my e’er firm: I love ye, else I die;
Or if ye so believe, like song of love,
Wherein the tongue nor lips need ever move—
Always be-known well to two heaving hearts,
Say no more, silent are shot Cupid’s darts;
For, silent lips of loving souls scarce lie,
As do monotones of mere no and I.
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This sonnet expresses the feelings of a rather
exasperated lover who no more but gets monosyllabic
‘No’ and ‘I’ in reply to his endless confessions
of love. But the true lover that he is, relents
and reconciles to the inevitable, and there comes
the sonnet’s Volta. In consonance with his lady
love’s monosyllabic vague answers, the piece too
uses only a few rhymes: Three for the octave:
abab/baba, and two more—ccdd/aa— for the sestet.
The real Volta happens in the concluding couplet,
where in utter relief the lover feels ready to
even embrace silent lips all together.
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- Sonnets | 09.11.08 |
Aniruddha Pathak
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-silent-lips-of-love-scarce-lie/
