How nature’s wonders haunt my daytime dreams,
ensnare my thoughts in utter timelessness.
They weave a web that captivates my soul,
a harsh reminder of life’s transience.
Our days are few, earth’s beauty delicate.
Creation holds the promise of demise.
A hawk swoops in, ensuring swift demise,
awakens morning from her sultry dreams.
soon feathers fly, then cries so delicate,
the world stands still, enwrapped in timelessness.
A fledgling dies—once more its transience,
a piecing wound emerging in my soul.
I look to nature to caress my soul,
to find an answer in the bird’s demise,
to understand this brutal transience,
her need to shatter hopes born of my dreams.
A full moon whispers silent timelessness,
breezes sifting sand-thoughts, delicate.
A meadow boasting colors, delicate;
her flowers wave their greetings to my soul.
Year after year they speak of timelessness,
return to face, once more, a quick demise.
Within earth’s womb, do seedlings dare to dream,
accept their fate, their fragile transience?
All life is brief, a cruel transience,
the thread that holds me here, so delicate
almost as though I am, myself, a dream,
a mere illusion that contains a soul.
I can’t ignore my soon-to-be demise,
would I could float in blissful timelessness.
The truth imparts ecstatic timelessness,
enduring words that trump mere transience
and thus outweigh the harshness of demise,
imparting strength to spirits delicate.
Though understanding little of the soul,
I dare to touch eternity, to dream.
My nighttime dreams give way to timelessness,
delivering my soul from transience.
This beauty, delicate, knows no demise.
Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons
Linking to dVerse Open Link Night. I encourage you to stop by and bring a poem of your own, and take some time to read and comment on your fellow poets.
Victoria C. Slotto, Author 
Nominated you for the Liebster Award 🙂 For details please go to my post
Encase I messed up she nominated me so you can check hers out to be certain lol
http://abstractorganizedchaos.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/the-liebster-award/
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nice…very well done to form and i like the wrap around in this from the walk about dreams of life and hte night time dreams….nature is harsh at times in its reality…it shows us the best and worst and leaves us to choose…life and death all part of the cycle of a much greater picture we fail to see often….ther eis beauty even there though…
hiya.
smiles.
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Your form flows easily. THIS is beauty, Victoria. From beginning to end, I moved with your words.
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This is beautiful. A sestina is a difficult art form to create but one I love because of its dreamlike quality.
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Beautiful use of language!
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[…] its open link night [OLN] and I read something there that I found stirred something within me. Victoria, posted a Sestina, a form of poetry I had never heard of. To me, its a remarkable piece of work. […]
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Exquisite! I love the way you repeat transience because it shocks you and wakes you up over and over.
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I awoke this morning with one thought in my head, today, I will write a Sestina. Reading this again and again helped me understand what was needed to make it work. Its raw, its edgy, it still needs work, but the actual chasis is there, after a great deal of effort throughout the day.
You unknowingly laid the gauntlet down and I took it up. This piece inspired me to have a go myself, I think that is the best compliment I can give.
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A hats off to anyone who writes a sestina! I’ve only written one I’m happy with. Great work here!
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“Creation holds the promise of demise.” I have never looked at it that way, but I suppose it’s quite true. A wonderful line of poetry, nonetheless.
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so delicately expressed, the nuances of being a soul in a body!
and so many lines that appealed to me,
“A full moon whispers silent timelessness,
breezes sifting sand-thoughts”
“flowers wave their greetings to my soul”
“Though understanding little of the soul,
I dare to touch eternity, to dream.”
thanks so much victoria 😉
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My favourite form of poetry and yours is fantastic!
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loved the sensitivity to this whole concept of life and living
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A difficult form beautifully executed, Victoria. Impressive … and a subject that is always on our minds …
Particularly pleasurable ~
Within earth’s womb, do seedlings dare to dream
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The form itself is enough to awe me Victoria ~ I love the delicate write to the transience of life, specially this:
Within earth’s womb, do seedlings dare to dream,
accept their fate, their fragile transience?
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Victoria, My hat is off to you. I’ve written two sestinas and the experience was so consuming that I swore I’d never write another. Wonderful work and a pleasure to experience from beginning to end.
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So beautifully crafted an exceptional poem that is a joy to read.
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Year after year they speak of timelessness,
return to face, once more, a quick demise.
Within earth’s womb, do seedlings dare to dream,
accept their fate, their fragile transience?..wow Victoria. Gorgeous poem!
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This is absolutely enchanting!
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Gobsmacked!! I had to look up sestina to understand the form here and then when I read it, I was bowled over with how difficult this form is and yet you make it look so damned easy. How do you do that??
If one day I feel brave enough, I shall have a real go at one of these as it will challenge me greatly and I like a challenge.
The more I read this, the more I appreciate the technicalities of the form and the full impact of what you have done with it comes through even more.
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This is very well done and I enjoyed it..fav line
I dare to touch eternity, to dream.
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Brava! Brava!
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Victoria, beautifully crafted sestina. Your use of language flows like a river. Very, very nice.
Pamela
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Whatever form of verse you write, you write it with a delicate and expert touch. Beautiful.
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The theme, the form, the language, the skill – I am speechless with admiration. Transience is a continuous part of our thinking as we grow older. Thank you for the hard work that went into this glorious read.
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Victoria, a sesstina, my favorite! I agree with Bjorn, this is excellent. I think sesstinas give a sensual feel to their words. I particularly like the last stanza, and the use of similar sounds throughout. I am always curious, did you think out and plan your end words, or did you write the first stanza and then figure out how to use the words in the following stanzas?
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Heidi, to be honest, I’m not always sure where the poem comes from when I write sestinas. I don’t plan anything out except for picking out words that appeal to me and then let them take me on a ride. (The same thing happened with my first novel. The characters wrote it for me.) One thing I did do in this poem was to change one of the words to transience. Can’t remember when I started with but it wasn’t working.because of the syllable stress. Interestingly, that word became central to the poem as it unfolded.
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Thank you, Victoria. I love sestinas, although I never get the meter right in mine, so I just tend to ignore that part. I can relate to following where the piece is taking you.
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Victoria, this is one of the best sestinas I ever read. It follows the idea of a gentle flow, and lack a lot ot the “repetiveness” your sometimes feel. Even though you have choosen so difficult words as end words. Also keeping the rythm to pentameter… very very good.
(and I have made a few feeble efforts writing them…. each taking days to finish)
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oh wow victoria… wonderful work…i have such respect of sestinas as i think they’re really difficult to write…love how you tackle the theme as well…the thread that holds me here, so delicate… it is… esp. in the last few months with people i know getting seriously sick and other things i realized more and more how fragile life is
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Victoria, this is so beautifully written! It was a pleasure to read.
Blessings ~ Wendy
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