Sonnet I.

I look for love not in the grand displays
Of fervor-stricken princes and their poses;
Love makes its glory known in gentle ways
With trumpets, no, nor brandishing of roses.
Hearts should not burn in temp'ramental blazes
To freeze again when zealous songs subside;
Give me instead a friend no tempest fazes,
In whose untiring ear I might confide.
For patience tempers love, and pride it humbles
So that sweet empathy can bring to bear
A full, grace-gilded cache, when patience crumbles,
Of understanding smiles and words of care.
True gallantry forgets grandiloquence
And practices instead in deference.

July 3, 2009