My Poem

WORD WRITING
Shelli L. Snyder

A sonnet is the picture of the soul,
Imperative the words and letters be.
For heaven uses words with you and me
Accordingly, for understanding full.
To knowing angels images are dull -
But words can sound through all eternity.

So here, a sonnet, document the hour
When heaven whispered softly in your ear
Of love and choices, godly in their pow'r
To fill with faith and silence every fear.
And all the while His Majesty admires
The way with which you scribble your desires.

I had to write a sonnet imitating another poet's work for my class. I'm certainly not a poet, but I'm still documenting this because it was fun for me. I used Rossetti's "The Sonnet" for my guide, and implemented his rhyming pattern. I'm going to include his sonnet here too. Rossetti is much more eloquent than I choose to be, but I love his ideas.

THE SONNET
D. G. Rossetti

A Sonnet is a moment's monument,--
Memorial from the Soul's eternity
To one dead deathless hour. Look that it be,
Whether for lustral rite or dire portent,
Of its own intricate fulness reverent:
Carve it in ivory or in ebony,
As Day or Night prevail; and let Time see
Its flowering crest impearled and orient.

A Sonnet is a coin: its face reveals
The soul,--its converse, to what Power 'tis due:--
Whether for tribute to the august appeals
Of Life, or dower in Love's high retinue
It serve; or, 'mid the dark wharf's cavernous breath,
In Charon's palm it pay the toll to Death.