.
My Paola’s love is constant as the sun
That daily sheds its beams on hill and dale;
No sooner set, it hastes again to run
With steady pace, the same unswerving trail.
When cold winds blow, the warmth of her embrace,
Like sunlight, penetrates me to the core;
Her sheltering rays create a hiding place
Out of the rain, where I can bloom once more.
On cloudy days, or in a clear blue sky,
In every kind of weather, foul or fair,
Unfailingly, she takes her place on high
With quiet grace, her warmth and light to share.
She goes away, I walk by moonlight then—
In memory alone her image shines—
But when her cheerful face appears again
A new day dawns and gloomy night declines.
Her streaming beams rush over me, and I,
My face lit up with unconcealed glee,
Imbued with glory like the morning sky,
Reflect the radiant beauty that I see.
.
.
Martin Rizley grew up in Oklahoma and in Texas, and has served in pastoral ministry both in the United States and in Europe. He is currently serving as the pastor of a small evangelical church in the city of Málaga on the southern coast of Spain, where he lives with his wife and daughter. Martin has enjoyed writing and reading poetry as a hobby since his early youth.
This is a very good piece of wrtiting, Martin. I particularly admire how the all-embracing metaphor of sun and plant fits into so many other smaller metaphors. The meter steps along quite effortlessly too. Perhaps the rhymes clang a bit too loudly because of all the end-stopped lines. But I feel at home with this pattern in English as she used to be spoken, with almost every complete utterance fitting gracefully into a ten syllables, half of them roots that beg for emphasis. Let’s see more!
I find this sonnet-like poem of yours to be wholesome and heart-warming Mr. Rizley!
Just reading it reminds me of Shakespeare’s sonnet 130, whose theme of complimenting a loved one mirrors your own poem.
This only proves that the best poems are born from the human desire to express our deepest and sincerest sentiments through the written word when the mouth fails to deliver them. This is probably why the works of the Romantic and Renaissance poets are beloved and venerated by literary scholars and ordinary readers alike, and another example such an expression can be found in your poem.
Mr. Rizley,
It was a pleasure to read this poem. Like Mr. Willis, I noted the end-stopped lines (all masculine endings, too), but I love how gracefully & effortlessly they contain your thoughts. I was also impressed by the steady stream of long-A vowels (almost as if they were to represent “constant love”). More striking, still, is the way you use assonance and slant rhyme at the ends of lines to bind the 4trains to each other: trail-embrace, more-fair, sigh-shine etc. A quietly brilliant piece of work!
Martin, in these turbulent and troubled times, you capture the golden essence of the loving side of life and all that it means. Your beautiful words have left me with a warm glow of hope and happiness – a great antidote to all the hate hurled about these days. Thank you.
This is a very beautiful and enjoyable poem, thank you. It lifts my spirits to read such beautiful lines and ponder the wholesome subjects of love and nature.