.
Pergola
My vines entwined around your posts and beams
of weathered wood the sun had silvered gray.
My trunk extends its arms, your trellis teems
with viridescent leaves throughout the day.
The hungry children broke your lower rail.
They stood upon it, grasping grapes that hung
beyond their reach. A branch observes the trail
you left behind and forms a living rung.
Through time and rain and rays, your lattice rots.
Unpruned, my tendrils overtake your cage.
They tied suspended splintered parts with knots,
replacing rafters crumbling due to age.
You gave support to give my life a chance.
I lend support to grant your death a dance.
.
.
Andre Le Mont Wilson was born in Los Angeles and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has published rhymed and metered poetry in The Society of Classical Poets and Rattle.
well its clearly understood that its in a Sonnet form , but I don’t understand at what liberty did the poet abstain from giving rhyme to the 2nd quatrain.
This is a very lovely sonnet, Andre. I’m going to guess that line 8 is missing the word “trail” or a similar “ale” rhyme at the end…? It’s clearly missing a syllable and the rhyme.
Line 7, rather.
Sensuous and beautifully metaphorical.
I’m going with ‘nail’ for line 7, Brian.
Thanks for the read, Andre.
I look forward to a second reading with a line 7 fix.
Thank you, Cheryl. The editor fixed the line. You can now enjoy my poem as I had written it. Thanks again.
Thank you for your compliments and for noticing the omission of “trail” in the seventh line of my sonnet. “Trail” was in my submission. I have notified the Society to correct the omission. Thank you for your patience and support.
Sincerely,
Andre Le Mont Wilson
This is very beautiful! I especially love the thought — and the way it is expressed — in the final couplet.
Thank you, Cynthia. I very much appreciate your compliment.
Best,
Andre Le Mont Wilson
Carefully and beautifully worded, Andre. “Dance” as the final word personifies the pergola and vine in cheerful mutuality, which is possible because of the gave/give and lend/grant word choices earlier in the couplet, all enriching its theme of “support.” I also love the double adjective of “suspended splintered” describing the parts of the pergola that vine tendrils tie with knots (NOT the usual way to repair a crumbling structure). And of course the trellis teems with viridescent leaves throughout the day; the leaves are still there at night, but without sunlight they can’t be viridescent.
Does there need to be another little fix to the spelling of “teams”? I think it should be “teems,” even if you want to suggest the second meaning of the sound, because a trellis teaming with leaves is a less natural expression. If you wrote “teems,” some automatic spell-checker may have changed it.
Hi Margaret,
You are correct. I had intended to use “teams” with that meaning. But after long thought, I agree with you that “teems” is a better word for its sense of swarming with abundance. I will check to see if it can be changed, although this has posted long ago. I will definitely change it when I publish my book someday.
Thank you for the suggestion and encouragement.
Fixed… Moderator
Thanks!