In
response to June Jordan's "Sunflower Sonnets Numbers 1 and 2,"
the sonnet below is meant to come between the first and second. It
is the voice of the lover to whom Jordan is writing in sonnet one.
This sonnet gives the reason for the drastic change in tone from Jordan's
first sonnet to her second. |
SUNFLOWER
SONNET NUMBER 1.5
Imagination
burning cruelly plays
with the passion of your lonely yearning
as frozen nights give way to sun-scorched days,
I, the warm spring rain you seek for quenching
the ice-cracked soil of your winter's thirst.
Parched, you try to catch me in your sieve,
I flow and seek warm refuge in the earth,
your garden only one that I relieve
as many drink the moisture of my kiss
which fades, dissolving quickly in a dream,
the mist of summer pleasures that you missed
while stalking rays, your petals all-aflame.
Chilled nights
have left my marrow cold and soft,
stems too weak to hold our love aloft.
©
2003 Richard Sidy
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