tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4349652604429465782024-03-12T22:27:46.960-04:00Lyrical RumpusScoop's modest attempt at poetry...<br>
Sonnets, Sestinas, and other <i>random</i> nonsense - enjoy.Scoophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03226624737329585096noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-434965260442946578.post-82738104579460024072011-06-30T22:35:00.010-04:002011-07-11T09:46:51.739-04:00After School, In Free Verse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3KQmfRidNqaN-h0x5UG-VQWnB7M1LPgMAuy8hpMDIjKShvkQIJ5FwpObvLq4ZISi5WpBHcvzfc2Sd8cjyewX68nt8KBOAchFLr-6zcFR56wu_oaKKzo6GIanbuVIgnBaOkp3FZd6zwHkB/s1600/chalkboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3KQmfRidNqaN-h0x5UG-VQWnB7M1LPgMAuy8hpMDIjKShvkQIJ5FwpObvLq4ZISi5WpBHcvzfc2Sd8cjyewX68nt8KBOAchFLr-6zcFR56wu_oaKKzo6GIanbuVIgnBaOkp3FZd6zwHkB/s200/chalkboard.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Growing up in a Catholic family can be difficult for a rambunctious and inquisitive little boy. Although God was always a choice in our house growing up; and although my parents were very liberal with their views on religious tolerance; school was a much different story.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My parents did not administer religion with the same enforcement as did the parents of some of my friends and relatives. Religion was ever-present but treated with the same importance as, say, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">water </i>– you couldn’t live without it, but too much and you’d drown. But, alas, that was at home… we attended Parochial school and regardless of what the views were at home… at school they owned us – and I nearly drowned.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nuns, priests, and Brothers of the Order were my charges at school. For years I didn’t know a teacher could even be non-clergy. I was a very smart boy who could not seem to avoid trouble. I was constantly being kept after school for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">something </i>that by most rational standards was not even punishable… </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I wrote this poem around the time my daughters started school as I reminisced about my own experiences; but I suspect it has always lived inside me. Ultimately, I suppose, I got a lot out of my years of the uber-disciplinary ways of the cloth as it played a role in making me who I am today; and if nothing else, I mastered the art of selling tootsie-roll tubes and magazine subscriptions door to door in order to finance the church’s new roof – with the unanimous endorsement of all three members of the holy trinity, of course… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still remember those afternoons after school silently riding home in the back seat staring down at the paste on my hands – formed from chalk residue and tears…</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><em><span style="font-family: "Calibri", "sans-serif"; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">After School</span></em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>The blackboard glowers upon the wall</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>Deleted words now clouds and specks</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>The unclean blank slate thirsts for chalk</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>Before a crowd of empty desks</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>A small hand reaches high to scrawl</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>To one abbess staring – vacant –</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>Through the window at clouded skies</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>The child glances; the hand begins</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>To atone for sins with a hundred lies</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>“I will not daydream in class again,</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><em>I will not daydream in class again...”</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
I felt the ironies within this poem (the daydreaming abbess, the atonement through sin, etc.) was best revealed within one more irony – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the use of free verse to frame something as structured and formal as a Parochial school punishment</i>… hope you enjoyed this one…</span></span></div>Scoophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03226624737329585096noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-434965260442946578.post-68781399217902815952011-06-23T22:35:00.014-04:002011-06-30T00:38:37.690-04:00Elegy, An Italian Sestina...<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One afternoon in college I was sitting in the library on the east side of campus mindlessly flicking through the tissue-thin pages of another <em>Anthology of English Literature</em>, Volume 400-and-something-or-other. Barely minutes before I fell asleep in a puddle of my own drool something caught my eye. It was a poem titled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sestina</i> by Elizabeth Bishop. As I read the words I couldn’t quite understand why it called to me so strongly. When I finished reading the poem, I continued to the footnote positioned just below it near the bottom of the page. The footnote explained that the poem was something called an Italian Sestina. “The Italian Sestina,” it continued, “is regarded as one of, if not, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the</i> most difficult poetic form in the English language.” I was hooked; and immediately challenged to write my own Italian sestina.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What makes the Italian Sestina so very difficult (and therefore rare) is the poem’s unique and complicated structure. Called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lexical repetition</i>, the Italian Sestina consists of 6 stanzas of 6 lines each (sestet), and an envoy consisting of 3 lines (tercet or couplet). The final <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">word</i> in each line of the first sestet begins with the obvious order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The next sestet rotates the final words from each line of the prior sestet according to a fixed pattern to end each line of the new sestet. The pattern is as follows:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>– End <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">words</i> of lines in first sestet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(6) (1) (5) (2) (4) (3)<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>– End <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">words</i> of lines in second sestet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(3) (6) (4) (1) (2) (5)<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>– End <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">words</i> of lines in third sestet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(5) (3) (2) (6) (1) (4)<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>– End <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">words</i> of lines in fourth sestet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(4) (5) (1) (3) (6) (2)<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>– End <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">words</i> of lines in fifth sestet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(2) (4) (6) (5) (3) (1)<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>– End <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">words</i> of lines in sixth sestet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>(2, 1) (4, 3) (6, 5)<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>– Middle and end <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">words</i> of lines in tercet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Or</i> (1, 3, 5) – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Or</i> End <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">words</i> as a couplet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is a vertical, graphical representation of the rotation of the final words in each sestet (numbered across the top) and the end words denoted vertically:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKGeRjpJ3pHu8KmCWKXfc5bMqvEtB48n9ChZs8cWAhmubhkD5OIkADB8P_sr0SMXG40PLED_gw3OLDW8NDBR5ar1RFms9NGrssXufqrntkuImzQ0O3pbKsR0lrU3ZFQSe7yl_SJUvRUbj/s1600/626px-Sestina_system_svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKGeRjpJ3pHu8KmCWKXfc5bMqvEtB48n9ChZs8cWAhmubhkD5OIkADB8P_sr0SMXG40PLED_gw3OLDW8NDBR5ar1RFms9NGrssXufqrntkuImzQ0O3pbKsR0lrU3ZFQSe7yl_SJUvRUbj/s400/626px-Sestina_system_svg.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As you can see this style is very challenging. Since that day in college, I’ve written many poems in the style of the Italian Sestina… here is one that is close to my heart…</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was written in autumn after a visit to my great-grandfather’s grave on a crisp, blustery Ohio day. Leaves blew across the mounds of the graveyard grounds and the wind spoke in whispers…</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-size: 18pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Elegy</em></span></span></div><em><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Over the beauty of the grassy plain</span></em> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>And through the stain of swirled marble</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>There blows a wind so lovingly sweet</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>It summons my thoughts and memories</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>To a time when I thought I’d spend the rest</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Of my secrets with you, sweet friend.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Upon these grounds trod many a friend</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Whose love and friendship proved so plain</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Though to a higher rank obtained, like all the rest</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>I see your name set down in stony marble.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Carved in grooves within which our memories</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Are formed and etched and firmly set so sweet.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>And Underneath that cold, lean, sweet</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Earth that teams with life my friend</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>There grow such tailored memories</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Of you and me that blow across this plain</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>They speak out boldly through that marble</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Underneath whose voice you rest.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>I need not see nor read the rest</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Of styled, stony testaments. Not so sweet</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>As to match your sonant, chiseled words of marble.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Although I know they are, too, a friend</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Of friends who stood upon this plain</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>And who also felt this wind that summons memories.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Now I can feel these memories</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Becoming fears and forming seas that come to rest</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Upon my cheeks and splash upon this plain.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>I never knew that Death could be so bitter sweet</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>As now as he has thieved from me my friend</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Now known to all the world as only sculpted marble</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>But rest you well, fond friend of stone, marble</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Over your Earthly home and in my memories.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>For in your grave you remain my friend;</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>A friendship that will never rest</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Never break nor ever wane as long as sweet</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><em>I hear your voice upon this plotted plain.</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><em>So now repose unto this grassy, marble plain</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span><em>Here through memories kept so fresh; caress the sweet</em></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><em>Call of old remembrance, and rest, my old friend, rest…</em></span></div></span></span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s undeniable that the mystique of the Italian Sestina lies in the fact that the same six words end every line of every stanza. I had a lot of fun writing this poem and hope you had the same enjoyment reading it.</span></div></div></div></div>Scoophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03226624737329585096noreply@blogger.com9