"[Ágætis byrjun]": Seven Love Sonnets

It's the penultimate Poetry Wednesday of Pride Month so what better than seven love sonnets I wrote about a year ago when I had a both a huge crush on a guy and a poetry assignment for class.

This was also midway through my discovery of Sigur Ros. I wrote each of these poems while listening to the corresponding songs. I've included clips if you'd like to listen along.

​If you're a fan of the poetry juxtaposed onto pictures, feel free to follow my Instagram where I do that every week!

If the photos aren't loading on your device, the plain text of the poems is at the bottom of the article.

​Enjoy the sap!

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​[Ágætis byrjun]

1. Svefn-g-englar

the echo of the cathedral organ rings
about my head, the drone, a shooting star
the operatic humming that it sings
forever strikes my memories afar
it’s you it’s you I hear it sing again
in echoed repetition through the hall
addressing me, an individual friend
picked with it’s fading orchestral call
it’s you, it’s you I hear it sing again
it’s you, it’s you and now I know it true
it’s you, it’s you – it has always been
it’s, you, it’s you, I’ve felt it through
it’s you, it’s you, it’s you, I always knew
it’s you, it’s you, it’s you, it’s you, it’s you


2. Starálfur

sometimes I like to say I’m not a fan 
of Coldplay, puns, and television static
and while there may be many days when
that is true, I cannot hide the fanatic
that comes out when I hear a 3-3-2
cascading ostinato major motive
or the rushing white noise of an avenue
adjoining to the road on which I live
I don’t think that’d I’d peg you as a Coldplay
your rhythm’s mediocre at the best
I reckon that you more of a Del Rey
and I mean in both truthfulness and jest
stop the beat and play your violin
and I will liquefy from what has been


3. Flugufrelsarinn

your voice is not as pure in tone as a
whistle but instead is cut with grit
and barriers of reeds that give it a
character and sound I find unfit
for the gentleness I know you have inside
of you and so I’ve grown accustomed to
the harshness of your talk and now I pride
the gauntness of your laugh through and through
and any time you separate your lips
for hate or love or anything between
I see the smooth curvature of your hips
and stop my brain’s attempts to intervene
–my brain and deeper conscious disagree–
to tell me that you were never one for me


4. Ný batterí

I try and muster out the words to say
but all that makes it past my sullen lips
are airy trombone grunts that fly away
like the four horseman of the apocalypse
with anybody else I might’ve cursed
my inability to speak my heart
but between us two you’re the first
to know the meaning of what I impart
like drums screaming in the desert sky
to any other man it would fall dry
but to you, you know everything that I
speak and don’t speak or try to keep inside
and this is why I give you all I can
and this is how I feel a better man
 

5.  Hjartað hamast 

When I’m around you I feel like marbles
on a wooden track, rolling down
and clearing all my silly vocal garbles
flush and turning circles all around
like the funnel made for coins they have
at airports made of black granite
when your quarters fall down me I’m glad
I found you of all people on this planet
the soothing satisfaction of your sound
will calm me ever after in a storm
I never have to shelter underground
I find protection underneath your form
of all the pain that I have every suffered
your gravitation pleasants me in comfort


6. Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása

I hope you never fade away to black
I hope you always stay like soft piano
and though you’re new, without you I would lack
the joy you’ve brought me like a flowing channel
your fingers grace my keys just like a master
and I beg of thee to play them ever faster
but softly do you play and sweetly so
and from me melodies of heart I’ll ever crow
not voice or word will come out of my throat
and neither will come out of yours as well
if we shall stay together I will tote
the feelings that I feel and wish to tell
you’re all that I have ever wished to know
if you so feel the same then we shall grow
 
​
7. Olsen Olsen

For you I feel a silver linings playbook 
love composed by Danny Elfman in
two days and though from it I’m feeling shook
its likely the happiest I’ve ever been
all jokes aside the flute can play its song
with elemental beauty I can’t take
and though it will last just eight mins long
the feeling that it brings I cannot shake
you made me feel much more than gay
you were forever after for a day
like some prescription medicinal ointment
you have me spending all week grinning
I gave you hope that became a disappointment
I believe that this is a good beginning