I am bathed in the colors of the sea;
on its edge I breathe in the lapis blue.
Salt wash stinging my skin in wounds to be;
moonless night roars in starkness to confuse.
Fate written in the bottle’s open mouth;
cast out far beyond breakers crescendo.
Sealed pleas sail in knotted winds due South,
reveal Gethsemane’s innuendo.
Crashing in foaming fury at bare feet,
carrying shards and churning sands of past.
Returned sharper in time’s attempt to cheat
converging chicanes; daggers thrown amassed.
Conformed to my hand in familiar grip,
the brine filled chalice which I must grasp and sip.
Elizabeth Fox
Author notes
Sonnet decoded...
The Sea represents emotions, colors - all variations of such.
Lapis blue - stone of prophecy.
Speaker feels already emotional pangs of future.
Fate is already written (in the bottle in this case) which the speaker is aware of but still tries to throw it away into the sea also knowing attempts to do so are futile and it will return despite efforts to change.
Gethsemane reference refers to Jesus seeing all of what was before him, asking he be spared and ultimately accepting His fate.
Each time a lesson is presented and not learned, it comes back stronger...sharper to nip at heels in obstables/daggers.
Utilmately speaker is familiar to the pains almost to the extent of needing them. Still learning the lessons of the chalice.
A contest entry
- A Royal Sonnet Contest. ONLY FOR MEMBERS of HUGH WYLES’ FAVOURITES’ GROUP. by hugh wyles.
850 points, ended March 31, 12 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Constructive criticism welcomed
Comments
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Dear Pix, A very lovely Sonnet written for King Hugh's Contest. I wish you good luck in the contest.
Love Joan
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The language you have used is deep and beautiful, but not easy by any means; neither are the emotions. Whatever is in the chalice, it is ours to drink, there is no running away. "For one who does not heed a whisper, a shout is coming."
This is an excellent sonnet, good luck!
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As I read the lovely Sonnets in this contest, I keep telling myself that I must try one, too. Your poem is very deep and stimulating of thought.
I especially like the opening line and it leads the way with gentle tugs, as if to say, 'follow me to a beautiful place in the heart'
Good luck in the contest
Dee
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Remembering the boomerang
you wrote about from your dreams,
I see a relationship in the glass bottle
which may return again, like the bent wood.
The options pondered at Gethsemane,
rejecting or accepting, seem to haunt
the lines, taunting the reader to realize
the options return, again and again.
Is life too easy, or is it too difficult,
presenting us with pain---that I see
hidden or acknowledged in the lines.
Fateful lessons presented here
in a manner to cause intense
contemplation.
Kudos, pix.
Aes
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Thanks Aes.
Fateful lessons indeed. They keep presenting themselves until they're learned each time in a greater magnitude to get our attention. Many times we are aware and still don't seize the opportunity. We even see it coming and know the outcome but still decline thus allowing the cycle to continue. -
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Somehow the image and lesson in Yem's piece
(the one in which I refuse to accept that is
a real person running aflaming, rather a concept)
is intertwining in my mind.
And following that path I think of my life as
a fair skinned person, always trying for a
Summer tan. Despite sunscreen the results
were always the same, sunburn and an
abundance of freckles. And the next year
hoping again for weekend sun!
Oh, but I run far afield of your decoding!!!
Aes -
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I think it applies to anything that falls under the category "When will I ever learn?"
I can see a slight paralell between this and "Jenny" though hers was an obsession that was destructive though I'm sure there is a lesson in there she's not learning but does she realize it?
I was the same way with the sun. I don't really try anymore but still get my "farmer tan" from the garden.
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Dear Pix-ie-stix,
My first thought, as I read it: "Ah!
I see a genie in a jar."
But. as I read your poem farther,
I saw I was mistaken rather.
Perhaps some fervent, written note
cast in a bottle, hoped to float
until it reached some far of shore -
its tidings thus to tell of yore.
Alas, that fickle Fate so mocks!
The bottle's dashed upon the rocks
and, like Gethsemane's last prayer,
is wasted on the salt sea-air.
That message, once cast overboard,
is known alone but to Our Lord.
A deep and thoughtfully written sonnet with much innuendo and evocative imagery although I had some difficulty connecting the couplet. Congratulations on its creation and thanks for entering it in my contest.
Applause, love and hugs, XXX Hugh.
PS: I once heard "innuendo" defined as: "An Italian suppository" (but i'm sure that was in jest.) LOL
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Thanks for the comment King Hugh. LOL at your PS!
I'm going to decode my sonnet in my AN. I incorporated alot of symbolism which might have made it too cryptic.
As I am always a student, if you have any suggestions or insight I would be greatly appreciative.
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Beautiful prose, but the meaning is a mystery
Lion
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Thanks Lion. I'm going to decode it for everyone in my AN.
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pixiestix
Look forward to it
Lion
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Thanks. I posted the decoder..lol. I went a bit overboard with symbolism.
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pixiestix
Now that you have explained it all to this simple soul, I think it is wonderful, beautiful, profound, all that depth of feeling and meaning, I'm so glad I asked you to elucidate,
LIon
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First, I know of Gethsemane, where Jesus and his discipled prayed before his execution, but what is the innuendo?
This poem is more abstruse than what you usually write so bear with me as I try to fathom it.
There is a message in a bottle, a metaphor no doubt, but for what, I am not sure. A plea foe a balm to heal the wounds in thr first stanza maybe...or maybe it's religious in scope,or deals with man's fate.
The bottle crashes upon the shore, but then...I am lost. Is the chalice the bottle with the message? Is the message the one that needs to be swallowed?
I think I get it (not really but play along) the bottle is fate, the message/brine is the acceptance of it.
''Conformed to my hand in familiar grip''
Would suggest something else however...an acceptance of something you once knew and cast aside...religion? Love? The notion of one's fate? I guess that would be it, accepting life for what it is, with all the experiences we have gathered, all the past hurts (and pleasures.) Fate can be seen as experience too...for us heathens who are too blind to see.
Go ahead, now explain it.
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I'm going to decode the whole thing in my AN. I may have gone a bit overboard with symbolism in this one.
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