The Ballad of Aurora and Cisco

A Ballad written for Week 28 of Poetic Explorations.


A little girl with a pixie cut
and a calico cat named Cisco,
Three-year-old Aurora starts to strut
holding her cat, limbs splayed to and fro.

Refrain:

The Ballad of Aurora and Cisco,
A little girl and her kittycat.
The Ballad of Aurora and Cisco,
A rambunctious gal and her tomcat.

"I'm teaching Cisco to dance," says she,
as she pirouettes in the bedroom.
Mewing loudly, Cisco disagrees,
paws and claws flail, spelling certain doom.

Refrain:

Heedless of the danger, Aurora
twirls wildly with Cisco in tow.
Laughing, Mom films with her camera,
perfect for Funniest Home Video.

Refrain:  (twice)


Author's Notes:
A short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain. The story of a ballad can originate from a wide range of subject matter but most frequently deals with folk-lore or popular legends. They are written in straight-forward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force.

Most ballads are suitable for singing and are generally written in ballad meter, (i.e., alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with the last words of the second and fourth lines rhyming).