Let Lovers Be Warned

A Year of Sonnets #81

Scene from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by John Simmons (public domain, Wikimedia Commons).

After Giovanni Sonier, Eros.

By Stella, Sol, Celeste, and Seraphim,
now pledge thy bones into a solemn trust.
Pray do not undertake this on a whim,
speak by your iron certainty, not lust —
though lust may satisfy an hour, a night,
its chemicals will leave an iron burn
and loins, once knowing absolute delight,
will peel and boil, make steady stomachs turn.
So part thy lips and speak an honest word;
enchantment is a gift and not a chain
and even if thy quiver’s clearly heard
good faith expunges years of needless pain.

Enchantment has us fall: we stay by choice
and thou, my timid love, must find thy voice.