Aug 2015
If I can touch the heart and inmost soul
Of just one doubting anxious questing mind,
Responding to the most impassioned call
Of question marks that remain undefined,
Then may my sadly feeble efforts be
Rewarded without danger of rebuff
And my own inner doubts allowed to flee,
As touching just one soul would be enough.
If I have brought the monstrous regiment
Of hidden doubt or even abject fear
To bitter rage or hate or merriment,
Then would I count the cost to me less dear.
And finally what held me in distress
Would be resolved into unworthy bliss.
Of just one doubting anxious questing mind,
Responding to the most impassioned call
Of question marks that remain undefined,
Then may my sadly feeble efforts be
Rewarded without danger of rebuff
And my own inner doubts allowed to flee,
As touching just one soul would be enough.
If I have brought the monstrous regiment
Of hidden doubt or even abject fear
To bitter rage or hate or merriment,
Then would I count the cost to me less dear.
And finally what held me in distress
Would be resolved into unworthy bliss.
For an article posted by me on Linked In's Teaching Poetry group, I used my poem A Poet's Supplication to illustrate the difference between the informal type of rhyming verse and the more formal, rigid rules that apply to, e.g. sonnets, by converting it into a sonnet.
