Blalock House

by estory

What can this old house tell us of the past,
Lives lived here through simple joys and tragedy
Once lighting these rooms or shadowing the staves
Lying under the oak tree in that field?
Who were those who formed such a lively cast
On this porch, when fateful days of history
Swept them away and forced them to be brave,
Charging battle lines where their fate was sealed?
When their Civil War was over at last
And their faces committed to memory,
Something unsettled still hangs on the graves
Festering in us, standing here aghast
At the host still haunting our destiny:
The pale ghosts of confederates and slaves.

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This sonnet is in the Celtic Rose format that I came up with several years ago; an abcd abcd abc abc rhyme scheme that I really like for its subtlety. The conversational style is heavily influenced by sonnets of Yeats: Upon a House Shaken by the Land Agitation, No Second Troy, and The Fascination with What's Difficult. The subject matter is a bit unusual for a sonnet. This is about the dark history of the south, that still haunts this part of the country. The tension between those who want to honor their ancestors who died fighting for the confederacy, and those descended from the slaves for whom its a symbol of pain. There are no easy answers here. Maybe there never will be an answer, I don't know. estory

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A sonnet about the dark history that hangs over the south

A chapter in the book Carolina Pastorals

Blalock House

by estory

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