Soneto de repente

Un soneto me manda hacer Violante,
que en mi vida me he visto en tanto aprieto;
catorce versos dicen que es soneto,
burla burlando van los tres delante.

Yo pensé que no hallara consonante
yestoy a la mitad de otro cuarteto,
mas si me veo en el primer terceto,
no hay cosa en los cuartetos que me espante.

Por el primer terceto voy entrando,
y parece que entré con pie derecho
pues fincon este verso le voy dando.

Ya estoy en el segundo y aun sospecho
que voy los trece versos acabando:
contad si son catorce y está hecho.

Instant Sonnet

A sonnet Violante bids me write,such grief I hope never again to see;
they say a sonnet's made of fourteen lines:
lo and behold, before this line go three.

I thought that I could never get this far,
and now I'm halfway intoquatrain two;
but if at the first tercet I arrive,
I'll have no fear: there's nothing I can't do!

The tercets I have just begun to pen;
I know I must be headed the right way,
for with this line Ifinish number one.

Now I am in the second, and suspect
that I have written nearly thirteen lines:
count them, that makes fourteen, and look -- it's done.

(©Alix Ingber,1995)

Improvised Sonnet

"Make me a sonnet?" Violante's plea
performance-fear and promises combines:
They say a sonnet must have fourteen lines,
and stealthily before this one go three.

Ithought that finding words would be a chore,
and here I've half another quatrain done!
If I achieve the first tercet, I've won;
those quatrains just don't scare me anymore.

The first tercet is justbeginning here,
so far, so good, the bearing still seems right,
since I can see that this line's end is near.

And now I'm on the second, and suspect
That thirteen finished lines will expediteThe count to fourteen, and the end perfect.

(©Aodhagán O'Broin, 1999)

A Sonnet on Sonnets

My friend asked me to make for her a sonnet;
I've never found myself in such a fix....