ONCE I CAME ACROSS A GIRL: a sestina

ONCE I CAME ACROSS A GIRL: a sestina


Once I came across a girl,
More tender than a dove.
She smiled sweeter than honey,
With her I fell in love.
We married. Tender got tough.
Sweet smile had now become rough.

Even though she was now rough,
I knew she was my girl.
I did not want to get tough
With one I deemed a dove.
I freely did give her love
As she was my sweet honey.

Though I called her my honey,
She got bitter and rough.
The more I gave her my love,
The less she was my girl.
I thought she was like a dove.
How could I be with her tough?

I had one day to be tough
With my girl, my honey.
Though I thought she was a dove,
Her words had got too rough.
I wondered she was the girl,
Who one day promised me love!

Even though I gave her love,
She was always too tough.
I started hating my girl,
Who had been my honey.
Who likes a girl that is rough?
How I wish she were a dove.

Gone were the thoughts of a dove.
We had now lost all love.
Life had now become so rough,
For me it was too tough.
I found her no more honey.
She was just a bitter girl!

Life was now too rough and tough,
She was no love or honey.
No more a dove was my girl.



• A sestina is a poem with six six-line verses and a three-line envoy. There are only six ending words in a sestina which are shuffled in each verse in such a manner that the pattern is:

1. 123456
2. 615243
3. 364125
4. 532614
5. 451362
6. 246531

Envoy: 531 [or, 135], but the endings 6,4 and 2 have also to be embedded within these three lines. Thus one of the possible structures of the envoy could be:

5 (with 6 embedded in it)
3 (with 4 embedded in it)
1 (with 2 embedded in it)


• There are no requirements of rhyme or meter in a sestina. However, meter / rhythm is desirable in any poetry as such. This sestina has been written in a 7-6-7-6-7-7 format. The envoy is in 7-7-7 format.

• Initially written as entry 483756 in the book LOVE POEMS, "LOVE POEMS" . Posted as the present static item on 4 September 2008.


M C Gupta
26 January 2007