The course of true love, however, did not run smooth. The young poet became too fond of the bottle, and this caused frequent quarrels between him and his wife. It ended with her finally leaving him for another man, but not before he had immortalised her name in many of his works.
Suthorn Phu soon made his name as a court poet of exceptional merit. At the age of twenty-one, he accompanied one of the young princes to the shrine of Phra Buddha Bat, and wrote a beautiful poem called Nirat Phra Bat, in which he described his experiences and referred to the differences that had arisen between him and his wife.