A sonnet with a meaning

But the reader has to figure out what the meaning is.


mouse over

She once was sworn to someone other than
myself, before I ever knew her name
or contemplated an unlikely plan
to capture her by heart and then to claim
her loveliness in ev'ry aspect I
could entertain -- yet thwarted by a small
yet major distance I could never try
to find an honest way to make her fall
for charms that I would offer her; for thrills
which we could mutually create; for lies
that I might tell as my seductive skills
go far beyond what I can exercise
in pure reality -- so would it be
as good for her as it would be for me?