(audio) PC 12: sonnet: the journey

The Twelfth Panther Cycle is "the wedding cycle" and was to be a vision of an engagement and wedding as we foresaw it (still in the early stages of The Panther Cycles, the doubt and despair that often visited later works was nowhere to be found).

This piece is a sonnet, a form I do not often use (but, considering the formidable size of my canon and catalogue, I think at last count I had somthing on the order of 150 to 200 that have passed my culling edits).

sonnet: the journey

I have stood at the edge of eternity and watched the gravel
beneath my toes fall away into the endless void. down
into the abyss. for so long did I wander free and travel,
deemed mad by all who saw the decade's dance turn brown
the greenery of my youth. alone and arrogant, I traced
the line of a shining path of cunning calculations culled
from my perceptions of life and love and god. and faced
with mortality, I laughed a hearty roar. and when called
by fate to answer for my sins, I took my cross with grace
and peace, knowing that truth was a better companion
than anyone I'd ever known. until now. I turn my face
from the lonely wind and hold out my hand to ask you join
this lonely quest. alone no more, for I have found worth
in one who shares so much and I would share my time on Earth.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.

This is a continuation of audio posts of works from the July 18th release of THE COMPLEAT PANTHER CYCLES. For more information on this massive volume of poetry, visit my website at www.cityoflegends.com