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My first attempt at writing a verse in Sestina form |
The Sleigh Ride Sestina The child clings tightly to the sleigh As December snow falls lightly from the sky. A mother’s anxious eyes follow the swift descent Of child and snow, cognizant of the clouds that roll past Remembering her youth with fond delight And knowing generations past and present watch. There is no limit to the time she will watch Up the hill the child trudges with the sleigh The eyes of the child now filled with pure delight As the ever threatening clouds cross the sky, The mother remembers her youth now past Some good, some bad in her thought’s descent. Child and sleigh on the second descent Mother prays that the angels above may watch Giving thanks in her prayers for their care in the past A simple lump of snow might overturn the sleigh Sending child and sleigh and snow to the sky Thank God, this downward path is once again a delight The anxious mom in turmoil between distress and delight With each new climb and each new descent Ever conscious of the darkening sky. Other parents now come to watch Other children now with sled or sleigh The memories creep back from the distant past. Memories of that crash in that darkened past Tend to mingle with memories of bright delight A single crash of toboggan, sled and sleigh Left jumbled bodies in that disastrous descent While others could only stand and watch With darkened clouds strewn wildly o’er the sky Today there is no sorrow beneath this sky She must again put that misfortune in her past And simply enjoy the tender child and watch Enthusiastic in rapture and delight While once again the child begins her descent Snow covered child grasping the sturdy sleigh. Memories of delight overtake the silent watch Surveying the descent and forgetting the past The sleigh sails masterfully under the sodden sky. Written December, 17, 2009 WDC contest, Sestina poetry. |