One True Love 25

IX



All sailors choose a guiding light whereby
They find secure direction under dome,
A star high in the pure and cloudless sky
To be a beacon for their journey home.


The mountaineer selects an easily
Identified and prominent, well-placed
High mark to guide his movements carefully
Across the danger, wilderness and waste.


A pilgrim trails the lighted window’s glow
Atop some shafted tower built to reach
Above the roofs and chimneys, stout but low,
Of house or store. He knows this for surcease.


Oh, I do have a point of safety, too.
The peak which guides and directs me is you.


"Sonnet IX" was first published in Son(love)nets, 1975.  Points of guidance are to which the romantic persona compares his one true love.  She like the celestial marker, the topographical peak, or the city tower is a signal that steers the persona home.  But is she really such a marker?  Or, is this conceit merely a hope of the persona?  Instead, could she be a convergence of disappointment and come tumbling down?

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