Demandez l’étoile matinière et prenez aussi votre amour terrestre.
My heart in grief’s a stricken dove which leans
O’er hidden nest of given things, mild head
Inclined unto dark mercies, awful means,
Whereby kind Love woos living from the dead.
For Joy, my pinioned soul takes leap in art
Of blackbird’s liquid song, and blood-stained wing
The blessed wound I bear from Love’s trained dart:
Old earth but veils the heaven which I sing.
From Love itself my frantic spirit flees
In Fear, a maddened gull that won’t be tamed
By peace, but lights on waves of doubt the sea
Casts up, or flies in storm’s black face. Unshamed,
Love sends my lover, in whose arms this wild
Bird’s snared, content to be by love beguiled.
Lanier Ivester is a “Southern Lady” in the best and most classical sense and a gifted writer in the most articulate and literal sense. She hand-binds books and lives on a farm with peacocks, bees, sheep, and the governor of Ohio’s leg. She loves old books and sells them from her website, LaniersBooks.com, and she’s currently putting the final touches on her first novel, as well as studying literature at Oxford.
7 Comments
David
Gorgeous sonnet, Lanier.
Judy
Wow! This is stunning.
Gael
Wow, first time I read French on the Rabbit Room. Formidable!
Barbara Lane
@barbqlanegmail-comOh my goodness…
BONNIE BUCKINGHAM
Gorgeous and the French subtitle takes my breath away.
They echo the poem. Stunning.
Bears lots of rereads too.
Merci beaucoup for posting this sonnet.
VALERIE
Thank you for this, I recently started taking walks in the morning and see all these birds, your beautiful words express my heart.
whipple
Cinq pieds, comme une etoile, n’est-ce pas? Tres bien. (Please pardon my horrible French).
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