Ineffable Sonnet

When first thy voice did stir the autumn air,

A fire long-dormant waked beneath my breast;

No mortal phrase could hold thee fully there,

Ineffable - no mere words can express.

Thy beauty was not merely face or form,

Though heaven seemed to linger in thine eyes;

It moved within me like a whirling storm,

A sacred ache no reason could disguise.

Two score of years thy shadow walked with mine,

Through dim-lit courts of memory and regret;

And every joy I touched seemed less divine

Because thy absence haunted through it yet.

Twice wert thou near, then vanished like a prayer,

Leaving thy wound where love and fate contends;

“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,”

I whispered. Then to home thou didst repair.

May 11 - Happy Birthday