PPC 4

Memories - Week 40

I see you there - young, barefoot and free,
On the summer shores of time you linger.
The waves reached out like an icy finger,
Where still you run, pursued by the sea.
I see you scuff and shuffle through the leaves.
The cold autumn air scented with cinder,
Hearts and hearths prepared for coming winter.
Love burned bright though snow gathered on the eaves.


I could not slow the years and so they fled.
Death sets his time and cannot be postponed.
I left so much undone, so much unsaid,
No use my penance, no time to atone.
Memories hover like clouds o’er my bed,
Dreams of you fade and then leave me - alone.


Written for "Promptly Poetry Challenge (2023-2024)" 

Week # 40
Poetry Form: Petrarchan

The Petrarchan sonnet, perfected by the Italian poet Petrarch,
divides the 14 lines into two sections:
an eight-line stanza (octave) rhyming ABBAABBA,
and a six-line stanza (sestet) rhyming CDCDCD or CDECDE.