Sonnet 5

I don't remember exactly when I wrote this or what was going on at that point, but this marriage got off to a rocky start and never did get much better, so it was probably in the first year. Apparently I had been accused of not really loving her. This was my response.


A Husband's Protest

Dark mutt'rings sometimes creep from shadowed thoughts
that love, though often steady in its light,
must flicker in my breast, too weak for aught,
when Time's cool breath expires in winds of spite;
for, in my mortal state of otherwise
dim feelings groping in a shutter'd heart,
the flame kept there for you at most belies
the darkness that surrounds this brighter part.
But despair not the frailty of this light
against the draughts that waft through chambers dim --
its strength is not alone of this poor wight,
but God protects a flame, once sparked by Him.
And as I vowed my faith to God and you,
so does He aid me always to be true.