A stern and peerless gaze, that there devoid
Of faint expression or a glint of verve
Beneath those marble curls, turns to avoid
A gaze yet sterner still; a worn reserve
That peers, unflinching and imperial,
Into that Bithynian face, and yet
Sees not; whose passion pulses, nigh as real
For him as passion for himself, and yet
Loves not; for e'en in death, where is release
For he who slipped at Besa 'neath the bleak,
Occluded pale? Where ought be marble peace,
A cast of immortality, antique
And e'er possessed and lost, thou dost repair
To drown again in stone, e'er unaware.
2 comments:
A day (or three) late, but hopefully not a dollar short. I have wanted to revisit Antinous in a sonnet, and feel this does not do him justice. It may be fitting that he will have to suffer the constraints of a swiftly-composed sonnet, given the constraints placed upon his swiftly-composed life. And I hope it's not unfair for me to play catch-up, rather than lose days I lost!
Ah, but it revived in the ample reference to a marble statue, memories of the ancients and the little I've been exposed to of them. I shall have to check into Antinous later, since I am totally unfamiliar with the name or character. The sonnet is beautiful, which is all the more delightful seeing the form is not only restrictive but also so much of modern lifestyles and thence, your time.
This is thought-provoking with excellent imagery, the marble carrying a double flavour, it seems to me.
I like it very well, especially the probing query/assessment it concludes in.
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