Knight In Electronic Armour

How lame this modern world when swain rejects;

No lover's tiff on rocky shore at dawn;

No quill and blotter note to the forsworn;

An electronic signal hides, protects.

.

Not personal, not visceral, no pain

Is seen on once-beloved face, or heard;

An SMS, an email, carries word:

It's over. "Cya". Never meet again.

.

Be sure that you don't see your cast-off cry,

Lest empathy may sunder still your heart,

For love does not so simply go away.

A distant text dismissal you may try;

With you and your ex megabytes apart;

Yet love abides, no matter what you say.

.

(C) Jenny Ford 2006

I spent some time in 2006 playing with the sonnet form. Something about working within constraints is a spur to creativity for me.

And then there was the electronic break-up experience ...

... and the title came to me, with the neat reversal of the traditional "knight in shining armour" motif.

In this case, the armour is not to protect the knight FOR the maiden, so he can return safely to be with her, but to protect him FROM having to look at her as he backs away.

Anyone interested in publishing this in a literary magazine, drop me a line!