Fleecy Things

I've had a lot of things on my mind, but as I've been thinking about redemption, I've wanted to revisit some of the thoughts that were going through my head when I wrote my sonnet, "Lamb Child." This is a paired sonnet to accompany the first. I'm not quite content with the start or the end yet, but in any case, you can decide what its all supposed to mean...

FLEECY THINGS
And now a solemn lay to thee rehearsed
Of stripèd beasts and shade-shorn fleecy things.
"Dear lamb, knowst thou who made thee in the first?"
And hearest thou that lark forlorn that sings
the night'ngale song? Learn from the blessed day
How heaven beckoned back the dayspring star
With closèd mouth in silent kyrie.
Behold the Tyger mute, stripes made to bear;
His regal pelt unparted stand and see!
Oh thou that grazed Elysian pastures fair,
Did he who made that slouching beast make thee?
     Lamb child, forsake desire, rebuke thy art
     And open now the pyx box of thy heart.

Lamb Child

Remembrest thou that silent, starry floor,
Or thrones of ember, song, and silver light?
Recallest thou that bright empyrean shore,
And sphere-song that reproves the blackest night?
How art thou fallen from this sorr'wing sky
O Lucifer,           thou morning star and son
Of that bright glory forfeited, to fly
In proud rebellion earliest begun.
For thou in fatal flight didst fall to earth--
As Icharus, his waxy wings diswed--
No child of life, no son of mortal birth
But ashen babe of feral fires fed.
    Lamb child, far from thy long forgotten home
    How long in solemn darkness needst thou roam?

This sonnet is based loosely on Isaiah 14:12. One of the things that I am most excited about this semester in terms of literary content is trying to understand Lucifer better through Paradise Lost. Does God love him? Do we love him, and should we? On my mission, I cringed a little when an old man prayed for Satan, but I wonder if he was not so far from truth: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matt 5:44).