…or the stars, as the case may be.
It’s Poetry Friday, and the last month of the year, huzzah! The Sisters have once again persevered and come through! Yay, us! And here we are with another poetic form! This one… I’ve never done before, and it was both simple and hard. Simple is sometimes really difficult, I find. The Lai is a form from France, and this nine-line poem uses an “A” and “B” rhyme scheme with A lines being five syllables, and B lines two. The pattern is AA B AA B AA B. See? Simple. But… also ridiculously hard.
As always, the Sisters did it justice. Don’t miss works by Sara,
Laura, Tricia, Kelly,, and Liz.
Fortunately, our theme was “hope, peace & light” which ties nicely into December’s theme as a whole, right? I gave it a go, and after some technical difficulties under the heading of, “I started to enjoy just writing a poem, forgot there were rules about end rhyme and ended up with some weird hybrid,” I came up with this little poem in three parts – moving from dusk to midnight to dawn… it’s not so much about hope or peace or light, and more about… determination to find such:
Darkest time of year
Dusk seems always near;
It waits.
Autumn days austere
chill the atmosphere.
By eight,
Day time’s souvenir,
moon, will disappear.
Let the dark gestate
That which we await
And fear.
Though we may debate,
seasonal dictates
are clear:
Let us celebrate
Life, as its due date
draw near.
Daybreak’s slow premiere
heralds blue skies, clear
roads straight.
Borne, we cannot steer
Our celestial sphere.
Our fate
mutable, unclear –
But, we persevere,
create.
2017 has been… a ride over Niagra in a barrel – and if you’ll recall, Annie Edison Taylor said of it, “If it was with my dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feat…. I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over the Fall.” Yeah… it’s just been that kind of a year. But! While days may be dark, the moon may be dim, and our nerves on edge, remember that the spirit of creativity is its own spark, dear ones. Don’t let your hands be idle. Even if it’s putting stickers on a piece of paper and making bookmarks for a school library, it’s doing something to feed you. Keep finding your feet, holding your candle, and lighting your world.
Arise and shine.
Poetry Friday today is hosted by Cousin Mary Lee at A Year of Reading. Please pop over for more lovely poetry today. Thank you for dropping by, and we hope you join us – the Seven Sisters – for whatever poetic hijinks we get up to next year! We’ll see you in January.
The hope in that ending is so real.
To create, to participate — this is what it takes to keep going…to have hope.
@MaryLee: In the end, creating is all we have left. This year is encapsulated in that last lai – we’re all being swept along by events unfolding at a breakneck pace. I am so tired of feeling like we have control of nothing, but I remind myself of what I do have control: of me, of what I produce, of how I interact. It is the seed of all we need, so it is enough.
I am so impressed by all of these lais–you sisters have not at all been laisy! Yours and Liz’s tread the same path, but in so different a mood somehow. Yours has a formality that fits the place you’re singing today!
I know that “only takes a spark” song too–but I guess I thought it was exclusive to my Lutheran church camp in Virginia!
@Heidi: (I believe Protestants Of A Certain Age all grew up with that “spark” song – and we all thought it was only us!!!! Hah!!!) I always love how we can borrow an idea from one another in this group, and still have them turn out utterly different. ☺
Your reference to the moon as “day time’s souvenir” really struck me. There’s a “super moon” tonight, but I’m going to think of it as Tanita’s extra lovely souvenir of All That is Still Bright in The World. (Also, I love that you wrote three lais, in a chain, no less.)
@sara: Aww! I shall look at the same moon, and think of it as yours.
Love your 3-part approach. Creation = evolution. Very evocative, with that spark of hope at the end. Breaking through!!
@jama: I’m so glad you enjoyed it – I was leaning hard on the object that we MUST evolve once we’re created.
I really love the way you’ve set your three stanzas up on the “page” here. (I hope you’ll forgive me for noting that moving from dusk to midnight to dawn mirrors the Twilight saga – LOL!)
@Writing Ruminating: OY, KELLY! Thank you for that. *ponders changing the order* (Kidding)
I’m not entirely sure these are all …’related’ per se, but they came to me in a bunch, so I left them as they were.
You win the end word contest FOR SURE!!
austere
souvenir
gestate
debate
premier
sphere
persevere
SO GOOD!!!!
@Liz: I had a brief affair with my thesaurus in college that turns out to have lasted for years. I do love words.
Tanita, I love your call to action! I am now singing, “It only takes a spark, to get a fire going…” Good thing I’m home alone:>) These are all beautiful, but the first one is so perfectly elegant and simple (which IS hard), it’s my favorite. Love the moon as souvenir!
@LauraSalas: LAURA, THAT SONG IS NOW STUCK IN MY HEAD. I hadn’t thought about it in years, though, so am laughing out loud.
I also like to pass an earwig along:>)