Windows

I sat before the windows and watched
the seasons change from cold to warm to cold,
and the view from the windows time has snatched,
eyes, with blindness set, have only grown old.
And with me did her sympathies so lie,
regardless of two lives kept separate.
If I could only gaze into those eyes,
see the secrets hidden in emerald depths.
Mem'ries of times long since left to the past,
of golden locks and skin white as snow.
Could her post at my bedside ever last?
Many years wasted waiting at windows.
    I was too busy for joys of this life.
    Now it is too late to make her my wife.

I have written in a strict poetic form before, but I have never actually written a sonnet. I found the most challenging aspect of the form to be iambic pentameter because I had to rearrange my wording and exchange one word for another to ensure the proper number of syllables in every line. I did not, however, struggle with the rhyme scheme which was surprising because I thought that would be the hardest part. The strict structure helped me to get my point across in fewer lines than I probably would've if it were free verse on the same subject, and I thought more carefully about the specific words I was using -- their length, sound, connotation, etc. Knowing that sonnets are typically about love made it easier for me to decide on a topic and stick to it when writing, even when it was challenging.