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There Was a Time I Tried to Love the Sun

There was a time I tried to love the Sun.
I saw his golden splendor in the sky
At Lammastide, when harvest had begun,
Aflame above the windswept fields of rye.
I thought to love him would be good for me,
Since all good things are born of warmth and light.
But soon my heart felt its dishonesty,
Well-knowing I had only eyes for night,
And loved the Moon beyond all reasoning.
Though pale and cold, capricious and withdrawn,
It was his light that made my spirit sing,
His face the one I longed to look upon.
The Moon, although the “lesser” of the spheres,
Has never burned or blinded me to tears.

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Patricia Rogers Crozier has been published in The Washington Post. She holds a B.S. in Physics from Mississippi College. She resides in Gulf Breeze, Florida and works at Publix. She is the winner of the 2024 SCP International Poetry Competition.

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4 Responses

  1. Paul Freeman

    Living as I do in a desert, I fully appreciate this poem. The narrator’s voice is superb.

    Thanks for the read.

    Reply
  2. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Absolutely beautiful! The chosen form of a Shakespearean sonnet and the mention of Lammastide, puts me in mind of Romeo and Juliet. I believe Lammastide eve was Juliet’s birthday. I feel the Bard’s tragic love story bubbling between the mysterious and atmospheric lines. Whether this is so or not, the sonnet is a delight. Thank you, Patricia.

    Reply
  3. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Patricia, as a light skinned farm boy, I certainly was burned by the sun. I came to appreciate the moon as a teenager in love. Delightful poem.

    Reply
  4. Margaret Coats

    Patricia, you (or your speaker here) may have “loved the Moon beyond all reasoning,” and the couplet offers a succinct reason against misplaced love of the Sun. Its rationale stands despite the “pale and cold, capricious and withdrawn” nature or behavior of the Moon. We are often told that the best of reasons comes not from comparing two proposed objects of love, but from within. The final octave (in this upside-down sonnet of sestet followed by octave) examines a certain heart’s “dishonesty” manifested in the superficial judgment that led to a vain attempt to love the Sun. Line 6 ending the sestet (“Since all good things are born of warmth and light”) seems like an excellent reason. But is it true, even in general–much less in the interpersonal logic of love? This sonnet doesn’t define an answer, but seems to say “not always”! As a love poem that is also an exercise in logic, it favors the cool classic advice not to trust lovers’ reasoning–which makes still more sense given the overall psychological picture the poem presents.

    Reply

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