What is a spy if not a cursed liar
Who for love puts hand in fiercest fire
But not the love given to a sweet woman
The love of country is inhuman.
We watched a French, great tragedy conclude
Where agents of The Bureau were deluded
Believing they could steer their star-crossed fate
Clinging to the happy ending till too late.
For once your life is built on falsehood complex
The web you weave the fates will always vex
And you must pay for secrets stolen, finally
No matter how handlers and bosses rally
The cause of saving hapless agents’ lives
Is hard on lovers, colleagues, friends and wives
All pawns in what is known as the Great Game
The spy is destined for a life without fame
And if their life of infamy be revealed
Be sure the fates no happiness will deal.
© Andrew Wilson, 2023
This poem was written in response to a challenge from Posted by Björn Rudberg (brudberg) in Poetry Forms on dVerse – The Poet’s Pub, to write a Heroic Sonnet in iambic pentameter – you can read about it here.
My partner and I have been binge-watching a five-series drama made by the French company Canal called The Bureau. Since the French are famed for their interest in love, this drama, whilst being a cracking, edge-of-your-seat tale of the life of spies, also examines the philosophical implications for the loves of those who make their living by living a lie – can they find happiness? Since the poem might be spoiler enough, I will say no more…
This is the first time I have attempted a Sonnet in Iambic Pentameter – something I vaguely remember being taught in school but had to resort to Wikpedia for the finer points, including all the exceptions to the rules which make lines memorable – I hope I have done it justice. I guess that we many of us have this poetry form flowing through our veins with so many great poets and playwrights having embraced the form.
Now that is a brilliant accomplishment, Andrew! Well done.
Thanks Misky – worth getting up at 6am for – but I will have to lie down later!
I found that the language tended towards the archaic but whether that’s because of the form being so old or because it was the only way to get the words to fit…
Andrew, this is really excellent! Your recommendation intrigues me too 🙂
Much love,
David
Thank you Ben and thanks for visiting…
There’s a novel hidden in a poem 🙂 Kudos to you.
It seems that The Bureau or Le Bureau des Légendes was not based on a novel but on accounts from real French spies so perhaps there is a novel waiting to be written…
Thanks for visiting…
I particularly like the first stanza with the question it poses.
I think I had looked up this series before, but I don’t think it’s on any streaming service I have.
I wanted to write a modern poem about a modern subject and I think the first stanza succeeds well in that respect, afterwards as I said to Misky, I think the constraints of form and rhyme forced certain archaisms that make it sound more of Shakespeare’s age.
Thank you and for visiting too…
Wonderful choice of hero for your heroic sonnet.
Thanks Msjadeli! I had to read up on Iambic Pentameter but had to stop when the exceptions to the rules started to overtake the rules…
It’s true that lies build up until it’s impossible to find the truth.
Preserve us from the echo-bubble that might result from AI and deliberately deployed AI lies…
Thanks for visiting.
,,, the guillotine awaits, me thinks. Well done!!
Thanks Helen – why was it Madame La Guillotine I wonder…
“life without fame” unless he is James Bond 007
Happy Sunday Jim. Thanks for dropping by my blog
Much💚love
You may be a spy for so many reasons, but there is something about lying and deceit that I would find so very difficult.
An excellent poem with a couplet that summarizes the spy’s dilemma
Thanks Bjorn – it was a good challenge – I enjoyed trying to write a modern poem in an “archaic” form and it is difficult to find rhymes that do not pull the poem back into an archaic sound. Like so many people today, I mostly write free verse trying to use rhythm, repetition and metre where possible but it really helps to write in tight forms now and then…