Sonnet LXXVIII

That haunting subject enters all alone.
His countersubject, following, condones,
subservient, but equal in its turns,
a contrast to the subject’s dull returns.

Each voice must state the subject loud and clear.
The previously entered stay quite near,
reciting countersubjects, then perhaps
a second one may sound, to fill the gaps.

An interlude’s between the subject’s calls.
The exposition’s done when called have all.
Then episodes, recycling all the lines;
a stretto sounds the entries one more time.

The hackneyed motives breed economy.
For fun we’ll add a tierce de Picardie.