The Right to Smile

I am gone forever, lost upon the dead winds,
my body is no more, only my soul rests here;
In this shrine, under the cherry tree, there I sing
of a love that I once had and a love so clear
a love that still calls him to my shrine once each spring
I watch his tears and I feel his desolate fear
a love that I watch but that I can never touch
a love that still reddens these pale cheeks to a blush

I cannot touch him, I can only watch him cry
I cannot reach out, cannot bear his mournful smile
he is Orpheus and I Eurydice
my sadness becomes deeper every time
I see him withering, deeper into denial
he is Orpheus and I Eurydice

I take hold of his passions, like a storm-filled sky
he cries for me in dreams, I am his poisoned vial
I want to kiss him badly, but I can't even try
I want to tell him that he will live through this trial
but I am gone; we are separated by the shrine
do neither of us have the slightest right to smile?

Author's Note

This poem is written in the rhyme of a sonetto rispetto, though I have taken a simple, twelve-syllable-per-line approach here, instead of iambic pentameter.

Reviews

[Azura]

Wow, you wrote this? Maybe it's just me, but that sounded really, really good!