Some walk the circuit around the Rose Bowl. Some walk west on Green Street into Old Pasadena. Some walk from home to a favorite ice-cream shop. But whether across town or just around the block, what is an early evening walk in Pasadena without a companion?
Leah Sullivan’s “Evening Walk (Sonnet for John)” explores the deeper reaches of the local sunset stroll.
Evening Walk (Sonnet for John)
Deep, emerald shadowed, draping green
wild oaks and spiky olive branches lean
over the sun-streaked passage where we walk.
Deep from the rhythms of our hearts, we talk.
Here as the ending day slides down foothills,
and turns the pinks and pewters deep purple,
we know the space above is filled with light
that saves its brilliant presence for the darker night.
Your hand holds mine. Our palms spread hidden heat.
A galaxy of love spins where they meet.
— Leah Sullivan
Leah Sullivan, a longtime Pasadena resident, at 80 earned her BA in Lit/Creative writing from Antioch University. She is active in The Eastside Los Angeles Writers Group and is a member of The Los Angeles Poets and Writers Collective. She has poems published in OnTheBus, RIPRAP Literary Journal, and the anthology Golden Horses: Poetry for a New Generation. Her self-published chapbook is titled Coda.
Local News Pasadena (LNP) publishes poems grounded in current news events from the greater Pasadena, California area. Submit your own poetry here.
Such a lovely description of your walk, and a lovely sunset. I feel like I could picture it1 Gorgeous!
I’m not very original, but I do love the poem. I kind of go along with john. Walking is good words that make vibrant images in my mind are good.. it is a good poem. It’s actually romantic.
Such a lovely poem expressing the tenderness of a shared walk at Sunset. I love the imagery and the lyrical quality of the poem, proof that the sonnet form can still be vital and valid.
You’ve left four profound and haunting lines, Eli. It does come to me that a chair can be moved to meet a man in a new room.
Peace and keep well.
I’m so sorry for your loss, of which I share my tiny corner.
Thank you for visiting my poem.
Darling, how wonderful is the testimony to the love and friends that saved us, give our life meaning and make us whole. Even in this moment
Really wonderful. This poem somehow manages to convey the experience of simply walking in Pasadena with the one you love, while placing that love in the context of the unimaginably vast swirl of planets and stars that we call our home.
Walking is good
Walking with Leah is better
Reading your poems is the best.
Words that make vibrant images in my mind.
John
This perfect sonnet is a needed breath of fresh air amidst the smoke and sorrow of these past days. It breathes both comfort and Hope into the evening air. Love will endure through all the ages and mischances and falling leaves of life. You might read it over a cup of green jasmine tea, or, maybe hot cocoa. It’s especially lovely savored with that one person with whom you hold hands, if you are so lucky.
Then again, it’s equally good for summoning memories—or dreams.
Leah Sullivan, you are an incredible inspiration! This is a stunning sonnet. It gives a window to observe the intimate connection in the simple act of taking an evening walk, bringing the sacred into the daily activities. The rhyme scheme is so light that I had to go back to identify the couplets, a lovely adaptation of the classical sonnet, where the rhyme scheme can be a distracting drum beat. You share your beautiful observation of color and the transition to night, which enhance mine, and you give such gentle power to the deep love and understanding between a beloveds who have shared many years. This piece is a testament to your gorgeous powers of observation, your ability to paint with your words and your deeply loving nature. Thank you for sharing your beauty with us through these deliciously chosen words. The world needs to read more of your words of lyrical, loving wisdom.
Lovely..If I may, given the recent passing of Susan:
An old man sat rocking in a chair.
When he got up,
The chair rocked on without him
For a while.
You’ve left four profound and haunting lines, Eli. It does come to me that a chair can be moved to meet a man in a new room.
Peace and keep well.
I’m so sorry for your loss, of which I share my tiny corner.
Thank you for visiting my poem.
Resplendent! The words animate Pasadena’s beauty….I loved the phrase, “a galaxy of love”…. I read this sonnet several times….to my delight!