Slashy TPM sonnets, take 2

[krait]

This one was actually the first one I wrote. I like it better than the toothache-inducing ones above.


Quiet Joys
How like a bird thou art, in airy flight,
Thy slim and graceful limbs outstretched like wings!
To watch thee is to know the world is right,
And make my heart cry out like viol-strings.
I know thy form, thy face, thy golden love
Shall never seek my grey and aging heart;
Still, just to watch thee now, gliding above,
Doth deep within satisfy some small part
Of that which aches and cries out for thy touch--
Yet pains the rest the more, lacking your kiss.
I am an old man, and cannot ask much
Of thy kindheartedness, except for this:
That in these quiet hours when you ascend
The air, I watch beside you as a friend.