A Wife’s Lament

1799 By: Thomas Stothardafter: William BromleyPublished: 24 January 1799
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons

A Wife’s Lament

I bid the light to linger still, to stay—
for when it’s dark within, no image sits
of you and I, still young, engaged in play—
our minds still sharp, our ever-sparing wits
engaging one another so, as it be-fits
a love that’s born to relish comedy.

But now your mind has failed, your mem’ry flits
from here to there to deepest tragedy,
enshrouding mind and dimming lively eye.
I mourn that mind, once keen, so bright and smart.
I see you thus imprisoned and I cry.
But then you place your head upon my heart,

in nighttime silence, broken by a moan
I cannot hold within—this heart’s not stone.

I’m joining this to dVerse Meeting the Bar where Gayle has us playing with Bout-Rime. The challenge is to write a poem using the given end-rhymes. These are the oncs Gayle has chosen for us: stay, sits, play, wits, flits, comedy, flits, tragedy, eye, smart, cry, heart, moan, stone. You are to use the words in the given order.

While my thoughts went immediately to my dogs, I decided to go with a more serious subject, one I’ve witnessed time and again–that of an elderly couple in which one person (the wife in this case) is caring for a spouse who has dementia.

love lost–dVerse Meeting the Bar

Photo: David Slotto

love lost
a rondel

i touch the old tree’s scaly bark,
caress the roughness of its skin,
releasing mem’ries held within
when you would meet me in the dark.

i wait for songs of doves and larks—
those melodies of longing when
i touch the old tree’s scaly bark
caress the roughness of its skin.

that night i waited in this park
hugging its trunk, a love-struck teen,
i sensed i’d lost all that had been
in new-moon blackness, not a spark
touch the old tree’s scaly bark.

Today at dVerse Poetics Gayle is challenging us to write a Rondel. The bar will open at 3:00 EST and that’s where you will find the recipe for this fun-to-write form. Don’t be afraid to give it a try–I find that working with the discipline of a form stretches the poetic muse.

autumn visits spring

Photo: flicker

autumn visits spring

outside my window
mockingbird sings lauds,
dove mourns,
a single leaf falls.

Written and linked to dVerse MTB where we are pleased to have Gayle (Bodhirose) share the exquisite form of Jisei, Japanese Death Poetry. Please stop by and join in.

Don’t! dVerse Poets’ Pub–Palindrome

Photo: Source Unknown

glaring, blaring, sirens, horns

death–sudden, metal crashing

crashing metal—sudden death

horns, sirens, blaring, glaring

texting, drinking—tragic choices

choices, tragic–drinking, texting

end lives—lives end

stop to think

think to STOP!

This challenging form, the PALINDROME is thoroughly explained by poetess Gayle Walters Rose who is our hostess tonight over at dVerse Poets’ Pub. Stop by, if you will and sip some poetry–and hopefully bring one of your own.