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Sonnet XIII

On days you do not need my sound embrace,
When tenderness and warmth envelop you
And Fortune shines upon your amber face
And suffering and sorrow are but few,
I wonder what your mind then does with me?
From the shore the grey tide pulls away;
Of sandy boundaries it would be free.
The siren moon has other things to say
And draws the wave and wavelet back to shore.
Much like the lunar moth cannot resist
The deadly glow of bug light by the door,
The nature of these things seems to persist.
The waves? A part of this much vaster sea,
Swelling and contracting endlessly.

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Dr. Jenna Tedesco is a psychologist specializing in the treatment of trauma using mindfulness-based practices in a psychodynamic framework. She has been writing poetry since enjoying the fine mentorship of Dr. Rachael Hadas in 1990.

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2 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Dr. Tedesco, this sonnet gem is replete with salient symbolism that is at once enchanting and sincere. The most salient line for me is the question, “I wonder what your mind then does with me?” While the other lines are more beautiful, this question speaks for the heart of the sonnet.

    Reply
  2. Joseph S. Salemi

    This is a beautiful and carefully polished piece of work, reminiscent of the earlier school of love sonnets.

    Since this sonnet is numbered (XIII) I assume that it is part of a sonnet sequence. Many of such traditional sequences deal with the relationship of two lovers (this was especially true of sequences from the 1590s), and this is even the case with a later sequence like Meredith’s “Modern Love,” about a failed marriage.

    In this poem the speaker questions his or her friend/lover/intimate/spouse on personal feelings. There is a strong tone of complaint and dissatisfaction, which is common in sonnet sequences of this type. The speaker bemoans some kind of discord or estrangement from the addressee.

    Note that the volta comes early, in line 6. The complaint now moves towards an extended simile of the moon’s pull on the waves, and moths being drawn to lights. The poem then closes with a general comment on “waves” being part of the endlessly swelling and contracting tides. I suggest that these “waves” represent the speaker and the one addressed, with the notion that they are sometimes together and sometimes parted on a regular basis. This also might be a complaint, or perhaps just an expression of acquiescence.

    Reply

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