Sonnet on bridges and “A”
By Marilyn Jaeger
It’s just an “A”, one letter ending “sea”,
But what a world the change of it could be!
I take that “A”, now label it a bridge
To tell of biking France, a true privilege.
The river to the sea?
It was the Rhone.
Eighteen of us on bikes, we weren’t alone.
The bridges, oh the bridges, glorious sights!
Avignon, Pont du Gard, San Remy, Van Gogh’s “Nights”:
“Sur le pont,
d’Avignon, l’on y danse, l’on y danse…”
Grade school song we sang all week, in French, not fancy.
Pont du Gard: aqueduct, Rome built in century one -
We climbed its towers, savored views, praised God for the
sun.
While bridges made my breath come short, for me
The bridges too transport my soul to see!
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ReplyDeleteDan, thank you for introducing Sonnet 73 to me - I had never read it. I suppose English majors who do not become literature teachers will always have a slowly exposed list of great works they have never read, and this one was on mine. And it was a profound choice to put on your friend’s wall, especially as you wonder how it could easily be your own wall and as you tie in John Donne’s tolling bell. For that my prayers continue to be not just for his family but for you.
ReplyDeleteMom, I’m happy you took the prompt and turned your good week of bridgeseeing into a sonnet. Dan’s was a study and ponder poem, yours was good just to read and to let us see what you saw. Based on my own comprehension time, I will guess that you adhered a little better than Dan or me) to Kirsten’s ten (not thirty) minute rule, and you demonstrate nicely how a ten minute poem can be filled with so much more real time. But about that breath shortness, for which I will also pray, follow up on what that NATO doctor told you!
And now, someone else’s turn! Kirsten, share yours! Show us how it’s done!