Girl on the Stage

A Year of Sonnets #118

Photo by Quentin Keller on Unsplash

for Hannah.

I pray you’ll hear the symphony alight,
the chorus of the world loving you —
imperfect you! With every flaw and fright,
for love is graceful, ever running true
like tides as they proceed, a beating heart
still regular, diminished not by age
or atrophy, a song without a start
that rises when your feet take to the stage,
and even if you trip. We rise and fall,
a million little lights trying our best
and, though most moments fail to shine at all,
please never fear you’re failing at the test:
for brains delight in striking hellish chords,
that you would falter further on these boards.

more poems from zach j. payne