Welcome to Day 20 of our daily sonnets celebrating National Poetry Month. Tonight, I am reading Robert Burns’ “A Sonnet Upon Sonnets,” which he wrote in the Shakespearean sonnet form.
A Sonnet Upon Sonnets, by Robert Burns
Fourteen, a sonneteer thy praises sings;
What magic myst’ries in that number lie!
Your hen hath fourteen eggs beneath her wings
That fourteen chickens to the roost may fly.
Fourteen full pounds the jockey’s stone must be;
His age fourteen–a horse’s prime is past.
Fourteen long hours too oft the Bard must fast;
Fourteen bright bumpers–bliss he ne’er must see!
Before fourteen, a dozen yields the strife;
Before fourteen–e’en thirteen’s strength is vain.
Fourteen good years–a woman gives us life;
Fourteen good men–we lose that life again.
What lucubrations can be more upon it?
Fourteen good measur’d verses make a sonnet.
Good afternoon! For today’s sonnet, I’ve selected American poet Maggie Bruner, who was born in 1886 and died in 1971. This is, I believe, the only sonnet she published. It is a simple statement of love for cats and how that love transcends life on this earth.
Without further ado, “Sonnet,” by Maggie Bruner.
The Sonnet, by Maggie Bruner
There have been many cats I loved and lost,
And most of them were of the mongrel breed;
Stray felines have a mighty power to plead,
Especially when chilled by snow and frost.
No matter if by cares I am engrossed,
Somehow I feel that I should intercede,
They seem so much like human folk in need–
Like waifs by winds of hardship roughly tossed.
I think that I should not be satisfied
In heaven with harps and wings and streets of gold,
If I should hear by chance a noise outside
Like some lost kitten crying in the cold,–
How could Saint Peter think my act a sin
If I should tiptoe out and let it in?