We hold true to our convictions,
As determined through belief,
We deny our contradictions,
As would worry us to grief.
We deliver our devotions,
With dedicated verve,
We limit our emotions,
With bundles in reserve.
We prize with admiration,
Every skerrick of her soul,
We lack the dedication,
To surrender our control.
. Through trust our faith is born,
. Make not ‘must’ that it be sworn.

© Tim Grace, (WS-Sonnet 66: line 4) 13 April 2011

To the reader: How we arrive at our conclusions and determine our responses is a matter of overlapping considerations. As one decision adds to the next the combined wisdom will lighten or darken in transparency. A great decision may have required an enormous number of overlaps but in combination will seem crystal clear. On the contrary, a clumsy decision, muddied with contradiction, will always be opaque.

To the poet: The symmetry of this sonnet appeals to my structural sensibilities; it unpacks with layered clarity. Throughout the poem there are patterns woven into its wordy web. In a vertical sense the lines alternate to emphasise that ‘we’ are at the centre of trusting relationships. And horizontally, the lines switch between short and long syllabic words. To finish, the last couplet share an internal rhyme; trust we must.

trust we must