When Joy and Shadow Dance: A Sonnet
Experience a sonnet that captures the beautiful duality of love and memory. It steps into how moments of light and happiness can exist alongside the shadows of loss, creating a single, complex whole.
A flash born of sun, a sudden grace,
Lights up the silent rooms where memories sleep.
It paints a smile upon a shadowed face,
And stirs the tender promises they keep.
So sweet the warmth that lingers on the skin,
A golden sound of a moment past,
When first a gentle, hopeful love moved in
And promised that its fragile strength would last.
But in that light, the darker truths appear,
The vacant chair, the silence in the hall,
The rising tide of a familiar fear
That casts a pallor on the sunlit wall.
Though joy returns, a ghost of what has been,
The shadow follows where the light shines in.
About the Creator
Tim Carmichael
Tim is an Appalachian poet and cookbook author. He writes about rural life, family, and the places he grew up around. His poetry and essays have appeared in Bloodroot and Coal Dust, his latest book.
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Comments (4)
The title aptly fits the contrasting images in their dance… beautiful.
After reading this beautiful sonnet, I'm not sure if mines will ever live up to the challenge. Great artwork! Good luck with the challenge!
Wonderful imagery and there is beauty in your cadence. It’s always pure pleasure to bask in the light of your words!
Ach, this is marvellous, just stirring, beautiful and each line flowed wonderfully. This is why the form scares me so much. Though, I put my first ever up today. Reading one like this, makes me feel inferior. Hat off to you, Tim!