My Herald Thoughts – A Sonnet

By Matthew M. C. Smith

There be none of Beauty’s daughters
With a magic like thee

— Lord Byron, ‘Stanzas for Music’

We make our way on trails with sapling shoots
through ragged pathways snaking green at feet,
our knotted hands are quickened light and heat,
now through the wooded hallways twined to roots.
Through sacred trees with shade and lancing light
with every thought as bright as green shoots’ gleam
aglow, where trees of towers herald might,
here, I am Lord and this, a kingdom’s dream,
a furry pelt of mossy bed impressed
with you, the forest’s queen in orb of white
as every step and stop makes still the breath,
you fix and draw my steady line of sight,
denying single star at treetop’s spire
in glade of gold, I kiss a chalice’s fire.



Inspiration behind the poem:

My poem focuses on the materiality of the woodland and the female figure, versus idealisation and high romanticism.


Matthew M. C. Smith has a doctorate on Robert Graves and Welsh Celticism. His work can be read in Poetry Wales, Atrium, Acropolis Magazine, Arachne Press, Finished Creatures, The Broken Spine and Barren Magazine. In 2024, he has supported readings by Owen Sheers and Matthew Hollis. Matt is also the editor of Black Bough Poetry. Twitter: @MatthewMCSmith Also on FB and Instagram