Category Archives: Character

The Choice: A heroic crown of sonnets.

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The Choice: A heroic crown of sonnets
1. The course in life we take

It is a choice that proves or damns us all,
A crossroads from which none may be exempt.
There we must find the strength and wherewithal
To wisely act when circumstances tempt.
Our wants and obligations will conflict.
Decisions that we, in that instant, make
Whose consequence–too distant to predict–
Forever shape the course in life we take.
It’s well observed that human nature’s frail
And good intentions often go awry.
When even those of public prestige fail
To show integrity, what chance have I?
Despite the moral heights to which men climb,
It must confront us all in life sometime.

2. Lies great and small

It must confront us all in life sometime–
That sinking feeling when you’ve been deceived,
On realizing there’s no reason, rhyme
In articles of faith you once believed.
The so-called experts peddle shameless fraud
By posing as benevolent and learned
To infantile and docile masses awed
By pretense of authority unearned.
They claim to know how best we all should live;
That culture, context help t’ assay an act;
That truth, morality are relative;
While we absorb these fictions as though fact.
How can one choose amid lies great and small
To heed or to reject temptation’s call?

3. Temptation’s call

To heed or to reject temptation’s call?
To master self or be a slave to whim?
A man who stands for nothing’s sure to fall
With every pleasing breeze that touches him.
A man must understand what’s wrong and right.
His knowledge of them must be firm and sure.
Though he may profit saying black is white,
Strong principles will help resist the lure.
His purpose must be well thought-out and clear.
He must know what–and why–he can believe.
To get someplace, he must know where to steer.
There’s little that blind fumbling will achieve!
Far greater men than I fall from their prime
When depth of feeling can’t excuse the crime.

4. What you do

When depth of feeling can’t excuse the crime,
To choose aright, you first must know you should.
There’s more to this old right-wrong paradigm
Than what within the moment may feel good.
If you don’t get to know your inner voice
Before those times when you are wracked with doubt,
How can you make a clear-eyed, reasoned choice?
Don’t wait until you’re tested to find out.
For actions make the man in people’s eyes.
To others, who you are is what you do.
A man defines himself first if he’s wise
And acts his principles. So who are you?
Some never find their footing, nor know how.
No lasting gain does chance alone allow.

5. Instant satisfaction

No lasting gain does chance alone allow.
Prosperity won’t rain down from the sky.
A happy life is built on sweat of brow.
On our own efforts we must first rely.
Our culture does not teach us to direct
Attention to what really should come first.
Somehow, without exertion, we expect
An instant satisfaction to each thirst.
The media promote this sophistry
Though vapid, fatuous, because it sells.
We follow, courting ruin eagerly,
Enchanted as though by a witch’s spells.
This Siren voice a sweet, seductive liar–
She’ll tease and drive a man wild with desire!

6. Unattainable

She’ll tease and drive a man wild with desire.
She’ll flirt and let him think he has a chance
Then with a frigid turn, she’ll douse the fire.
To her this wretched tango’s called “romance”.
It’s not the prize she’s after; it’s the chase.
She wants to be pursued but not be won.
Since she’s the stronger runner in this race,
It’s she who holds the power; I have none.
Relentless heartache’s unsustainable.
Too long I’ve vainly loved her from afar.
To me she’s just as unattainable
As if she were a famous movie star.
I never dreamed I’d feel so lovelorn now
That blissful day I spoke our wedding vow.

7. Wedge

That blissful day I spoke our wedding vow,
I thought of joys the days ahead could bring
As if some magic power to endow
A carefree life resided in that ring.
Rejection can be toxic to love’s trust.
Too frequent, it can sicken, foul the heart.
Too harsh it spreads a doubt with time that must
Become a wedge that drives two halves apart.
While my own longtime wife, beloved and dear
Says “No” and brusquely pushes me away,
Another young and pretty face draws near
Whose smile, whose eyes, whose touch tempt me to stray.
What cruel Fates are these who now conspire?!
I knew not what resolve it would require!

8. Desired again

I knew not what resolve it would require
To keep my distance from your warmth, your charms,
To calm the fearsome longing you inspire,
To not fall eagerly into your arms.
You bring to life some part of me once dead.
As you approach, I feel my spirits rise.
All thoughts of caution vanish from my head
When I get lost deep in your sapphire eyes.
How wonderful to feel desired again
By one as sweet and beautiful as you!
Temptation finds us all sometime. What then?
What must a married man with children do?
If whim and duty cannot coexist,
So much of life could easily be missed!

9. Resigned

So much of life could easily be missed
While focused only on the negative.
And if we never gave in, never kissed,
Or took no risks, is that a way to live?
Why not throw caution to the wind? Submit
To what our hearts and bodies both demand?
You draw me in. Why am I fighting it?
Your pull is almost too great to withstand!
Don’t we deserve to find some happiness?
To do in heat of passion what feels right?
We owe it to ourselves to do no less–
Surrender to these fantasies tonight.
To these brash, reckless mindsets we’re resigned
Without a deeper purpose clear in mind.

10. Restraint

Without a deeper purpose clear in mind,
What reason would I have to show restraint?
I’m not much to impulsive vice inclined,
But neither can I claim to be a saint.
How could I tell my children what I’d done?
That I had hurt them to be with another?
That I, for shallow, momentary fun,
For my own selfish needs, betrayed their mother?
It may be what I feel for you is strong.
Your every molecule may be divine.
It doesn’t matter what I feel; it’s wrong.
We know I can’t be yours and nor you mine.
And while you tempt me toward a desp’rate tryst,
It will take strength undreamed of to resist.

11. Invitation

It will take strength undreamed of to resist
Your urgent whisp’rings, though I know I should.
Some part of me still wishes you’d insist
And take me knowing I’m not sure I could!
Oh, I could sink deep into your embrace.
Desire combats resolve; it’s poised to win.
My eyes find invitation in your face.
Engulf me in your presence! Pull me in!
Don’t storm away! Don’t let me just say no!
I plead with you, cry out in my own head.
The moment gone, I watch you turn to go.
My lips unmoving, guilty words unsaid.
Now will I steel myself to leave behind
Those fleeting empty thrills in life we find?

12. To know and do

Those fleeting empty thrills in life we find,
Those balms we use to salve wounds of the soul
Will over time become disease in kind
When sought too frequently to plug a hole.
A choice that’s painful may yet be correct.
Another may be simple and succinct
But difficult to make and to effect.
To know, to do, are matters quite distinct!
If we had met some other place and time,
Perhaps I’d be yours in another life.
I may some days feel much aggrieved, but I’m
Not ready yet to give up on my wife.
And if as thinking beings we are meant,
Our happiness is no mere accident.

13. Reasoned action

Our happiness is no mere accident
Nor luck, nor boon that someone else can give.
Our happiness depends to great extent
On how we view the world in which we live:
Does reasoned action by us serve a goal,
Or is our flourishing mere birth and chance?
We feel ourselves empowered, in control
Or victims of time, fate, and circumstance.
Perhaps our marriage won’t be constant bliss,
My all-too-human wife, no deity.
But I must share the blame in all of this.
To her, I’m not the man that I should be.
I’ll put my family first and not relent.
It is an act of will to be content.

14. Triumph

It is an act of will to be content–
Look back at life and say you’re satisfied
While wond’ring where your dreams and best years went,
Despite those times you failed or never tried.
Our wants exceed our means. That’s no surprise.
Our plans exceed the brief time that we get.
We find one day we must prioritize.
Our lives are short; some hopes must go unmet.
And yet this means no reason for despair!
There’s comfort in successes that we build.
We can’t be happy whining “Life’s not fair!”
We choose to feel forlorn or feel fulfilled.
By this we seal our triumph or our fall.
It is a choice that proves or damns us all.

15. No accident

It is a choice that proves or damns us all;
It must confront us all in life sometime:
To heed or to reject Temptation’s call
When depth of feeling can’t excuse the crime.
No lasting gain does Chance alone allow.
She’ll tease and drive a man wild with desire.
That blissful day I spoke our wedding vow,
I knew not what resolve it would require.
So much of life could easily be missed
Without a deeper purpose clear in mind.
It will take strength undreamed of to resist
Those fleeting empty thrills in life we find.
Our happiness is no mere accident;
It is an act of will to be content.

Narcissist in Charge

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Narcissist in Charge  (A Tiara of Sonnets)

I
When arguments are simply otiose
because he thinks he truly knows it all
and he’s aware that he’s the one we chose,
some facts, to him, are not real facts at all.
Because his mind’s his mind, mind you, not yours.
his self-importance dims all other lights.
His plans, most often, pause for quick detours
to “tweet”, as disagreements must be fights.

Obnoxious though he’s now days come to be,
we knew he’d flown along a selfish path.
The fear that he’s insane’s what frightens me;
that war will bloom to sooth this one man’s wrath.

A joke’s been played, and now the whole world knows
when strategists can simply not come close.

II
When strategists can simply not come close
to structuring a social plan he’ll own
because that’s not his nature, I suppose,
to countenance a theme not his alone.
it’s up to us to put in place the cures.
to emphasize the common traits we share
to act in ways that lifts and reassures,
and in so doing, demonstrate we care.

For when embracing one who’s not like us
we elevate each other in one act
and make one wonder, “Why’s there such a fuss”
because some folks are white and others black?”

Humanity can’t push the dark away
When prejudice and ownership hold sway

III
When prejudice and ownership hold sway
we’ll learn from him of course, “both sides are nice”;
torch waivers shouting, and the KKK
our leader told us that, not once – but twice.
Division’s easily sparked by self-served men.
“divide and conquer”‘s been a rule of war
and politicians use it now and then.
and clearly for this man, it’s worked before.

His second cadre is the really rich.
He promised he’d not act to steal their swag
so they’re secure within that favored niche
and they’ll support him, though he makes them gag.

It will take time; can’t all be done today.
Supremacy is hard to take away

IV
Supremacy is hard to take away
when it’s a myth embedded in one’s thought.
My hubris is my due, and it’s okay.
I can’t reject the mantra I’ve been taught
when it’s been taught since God himself knows when.
Intra species violence seems nature’s rule
but man’s cerebra’s special to our ken;
that ought to elevate mankind from drool.

I think, therefore I am; and I can hate,
and love, and hoard, and share, and laugh, and cry
and better that I learn before too late
my legacy will be here when I die.

Let’s shut down hate before a darkness starts
While ample strength abides in good men’s hearts

V
While ample strength abides in good men’s hearts
an egotist in power can raise hell.
Our being, (set forth by Rene’ Descartes)
is not enough, unless that self does well
to overpower fulminating hate.
So join me, partner, let us all arise,
and show by actions, we’ll not take the bait
to shed the human love that he’d abscise.

Ask one whose dress, or style, or even race
sets him apart from what defines your norm,
to join you, (when in a convenient place)
then feel your prejudice and fears deform.

A compliment, or kindness, is the start;
It comes from human consciousness, in part.

VI
It comes from human consciousness, in part,
the urge to hug or shake a friendly hand.
The urge to smile, I think, comes from our heart
and goodness urges us to take a stand.
But conscious will’s required to give it weight.
If we’ve an appetite for brotherhood
our reasons and results will resonate
by sharing joy of doing others good.

Sometimes I want to quit this muddled mess,
just stand aside and let the chaos reign,
but that would yield to his nurtured abscess
and bullies’ volume would increase again.

Our humor’s something we need never ration
So laugh at “tweets”, then spread around compassion.

VII
So laugh at “tweets”, then spread around compassion.
A bonded population’s more effective
at viewing “tweets” with thought and calm dispassion
then smiling at, and mocking his invective.
Diminish him until he’s out of fashion.
We sometimes make electoral mistakes
and cast a vote that’s lacking any passion.
Then riding out the storm is what it takes.

When we, object, to no avail, devices
he’s used to denigrate and target some,
we must reject and obviate his vices.
Til all can see how little he’s become.

The odds we’ll change his mind are not that close,
When arguments are simply otiose

Reprise:
When arguments are simply otiose
because his mind’s his mind, mind you, not yours.
when strategists can simply not come close
it’s up to us to put in place the cures.

When prejudice and ownership hold sway
division’s easily sparked by self-served men.
Supremacy is hard to take away
when it’s been taught since God himself knows when.

While ample strength abides in good men’s hearts
to overpower fulminating hate
It comes from human consciousness, in part,
but conscious will’s required to give it weight.

So laugh at “tweets”, then spread around compassion.
Diminish him until he’s out of fashion.

Sephallian Reverse Sonnet

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The Sephallian Reverse Sonnet
was invented in April, 2013 by poet Dennis Nguyen, aka Sephallia on Allpoetry.com.
The poem is generally presented as a quatrazain since it is intended to be read either from top to bottom, or from bottom up.  There is no prohibition to
presenting it in stanzas.
The DEFINING characteristic of this form is that when read in the normal fashion, the poem has a pessimistic tone, but when read from bottom to top, it becomes and optimistic poem.
The rhyme scheme is abcdeedcbaffa and may optionally be written as a refrain sonnet as A1bcdeedcbA2ffA2A1.
Meter and line-length are at the poet’s discretion.
Volta, which is recommended, but not demanded, can occur anywhere between L4 and L11. The poem can have one in each direction.
This is a challenging and rewarding form.
 
Example Poem
 
 
A Measure of Character(Sephiallan Reverse Sonnet)

What you are told in confidence
if you hold secret to your breast
reward will flow in unknown ways.
An urge to propagate a tale
to pique the interest of a friend
there can surely be no good end
when confidences you assail
a gentle whispered word betrays
when silence serves your honor best
Your revelation makes no sense
I’ll never trust my thoughts with you
if other’s secrets you will spew
If rumors gain some cognizance
From what you’re told in confidence .
© Lawrencealot – April 15, 2013
 
 
Visual  Template
The template below represents an Iambic tetrameter
sonnet, without  a refrain.  the shaded lines indicate
where the refrains would occur if one were chosen.

Philippine Sonnet

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Quatorzain – Generally Iambic Pentameter
Volta at or following line 9
3 Quatrains + Couplet
Rhyme scheme:  aaaa bbbb aaaa cc
This is a form invented by Jose Rizal M. Reyes of the Philippines

Example Poem:

Morning Coffee, Before Work  (Philippine Sonnet)

The do-nut shop was open every day
we gathered there so we could have our say.
The “regulars” would leave their cup to stay
on hook-board: their own coffee cup buffet.

The hunters met the councilmen and cops,
and teachers met their students’ moms and pops.
The farmers spoke of watering their crops,
and sporting brags and bullshit never stops.

A newcomer just didn’t hold much sway
the coffee group was small-town thought per-se
The men would read, the women might crochet
until the conversation turned their way.

I learned more there than I did watching news
and found a balanced set of rural views.

© Lawrencealot – October 30, 2012

 

American Forte

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 Invented by Jose Rizal M. Reyes of the Philippines
Quatrazain
Iambic Petameter
Three Quatrains + Ending couplet
Rhyme Scheme: abab bbcc cdcd dd
 Associated form: American Libra = abab bbcc cdcd ee

Example Poem
Lead and Follow  (American Forte Sonnet)
Just follow your individual quest.
Pursue what stimulates your mind and soul.
When you’ve done jobs with care, and done your beat
That’s all that counts and that’s your only role.
Compare not yourself; other’s have their goal,
which may not seem in synch, in part or whole.
You need not better any one, but need
to do your very best, then you succeed.
You may have skills enabling you to lead.
That leadership is not the goal, you see.
But if you can help others when they need
a guide, you just help building their esprit.
Where you should follow, don’t compete; be free
to play roles that enhance in small degree.
© Lawrencealot   Oct.16, 2012