Form Challenges #22
TERZA RIMA


The Terza Rima is a wonderfully challenging poetry form of Italian origin. In the original form, there was no set meter although it is normal to keep a constant syllable count and line length. In the modern version the syllables are accentuated and usually iambic tetrameter or pentameter.
Lines 1 and 3 rhyme with each other and line 2 sets the rhyme for the next stanza. There can be any number of tercets or three line stanzas and it is a matter of preference whether you link back to the first stanza or not.
The rhyme pattern is ....a. b. a...b. c. b... c. d. c... d. e. d. etc.

Sweet Thunder

Such sweet, heavenly thunder as we kiss
my heart pounding loudly thumping
as our mouths unite in heavenly bliss.

Such sweet thunder, your heart beating
as our hands explore the pulsing heat
Pressing wildly against me throbbing

Uniting, filling, moving to the loving beat
Eyes half lidded as my hands caress you
Thrusting hard against me, bodies meet

Whimpering, crying as tremors run through
Hugging closely through descending hotness
Hearts still beating, beating, loving, true

If a couplet were added it would be...e. e. and in this case we end up with 14 lines and make it ideally suited to a sonnet form.
Sweet Thunder (Terza Rima Sonnet)

Such sweet, heavenly thunder as we kiss
my heart pounding loudly thumping
as our mouths unite in heavenly bliss.

Such sweet thunder, your heart beating
as our hands explore the pulsing heat
Pressing wildly against me throbbing

Uniting, filling, moving to the loving beat
Eyes half lidded as my hands caress you
Thrusting hard against me, bodies meet

Whimpering, crying as tremors run through
Hugging closely through descending hotness
Hearts still beating, beating, loving, true

Such sweet, heavenly thunder as we kiss
as our mouths unite in heavenly bliss.


Terza Rima Posts....Contents

Guinevere

Reflections

Lorainne Stark

Pure Love
Silent Metaphors

Teagan De Danaan

Believe In Dragons
How Often
How Stupid
I Am What I Am
Shadows
Why?

Terza Rima Renga

Stranger in Paradise


Guinevere

Reflections

Reflections dance as if alive in water of today
remembrances of passion ripple a happy laugh
but the surface of existence foretells no happy tale.

Entranced I fantasize a spark within the dark
of hope perhaps beginning but soon to disappear
as stealthy hands of time close around a heart.

Derision from behind implants the stone of fear
and indistinct the image veers from an inner need
outward to the corners of the hurting hidden tier.

No longer strong and bold it lives amongst the reeds
a sad reminder of the good feelings of a dream.


back to list

Lorainne Stark

Pure Love

Pretty little one I love you
Two strangers finally met today
I give you my love pure and true

A first meeting on your birthday
Your tiny fingers wrapped on mine
Nine months later on a Friday

On that night all the stars did shine
The heavens played a symphony
My daughter borne a gift divine


-----

Silent Metaphors

Their hands move as quick as birds wings
Like magic a story unfolds
We can't hear the words they're saying

It is a gift to learn I'm told
To tell a tale without a sound
You watch and look as it unfolds

As two older men stand their ground
Each one does not dare miss a beat
Slowly one walks away and frowns

No one understands his defeat
Accept his loving wife for she
Taught him to use his hands to speak


back to list


Teagan De Danaan

Believe In Dragons

Believe in dragons, so that they may live again.
The time is ripe now that we may live a fantasy
For cannot fantasy and life exist the same?

Cannot we believe and see what we want to see
For dragon lore was once the part of norm.
Amidst our deepest dreams the dragons be.

Lording over land and sea, the golden gentle form
Magic helped the reigned lord to stay his power.
Knightly lore was blackest deed and truth was torn

Evil deeds and wicked tricks caused this overthrow
And caused this wondrous beast to hide till now
Believe! Believe in them! Believe so they may grow!


-----

How often

How often do we punish the one we love?
Words said, more poisonous than a snake
That just pours out venom from above.

With the morning feel our conscience shake
Wishing that we could take back every word
And repair the scars and fix the heartbreak.

Our loved one says, "don't be absurd
I forgive", and in her voice you feel the pain
But from her tone, something else is heard.

How quickly she turns away, and hides again
You reach for her and take her in your arms
And gently turn her to you and feel the strain

Behind her smile, you know there's no harm
That cannot be fixed by this woman's charm.


-----

How stupid!

How stupid! What kind of fool am I
That when I tell you that I love you
I should expect a move of your eye

Your heartbeat to give a single clue
When I tell you what you need to hear
A few simple words to lift your blue

Commit to love there's so much fear
To tell your lover of your love now
That moment waited will never near


-----

I am who I am

I am who I am, there can be no other way
While lesser men hardly know they're alive
I am still standing at the end of the day.

My will is strong in order to survive
And while other men kneel down to pray
Against all odds and down, my spirit will revive.

Like the eagle I will spread my wings and soar
For what is man but the ruler of all beasts
And like the king they are silenced by my roar.

Whilst jackals and carrion have a lesser feasts
My spear and shield is my mind and will of right
While lesser men stir restlessly in their seats.

I win my feed and feast each day by might
I am still standing at the end of the day.
Closing my eyes to sleep through the night.


-----

Shadows

See as we walk the way the shadows hold hands
The way they blend and merge as we wander
Sun creating black images out of golden bands

Making them more real than us we wonder.
Look, see how they unite, the way they blend
And having joined cannot be pulled asunder

What is reality? Is it to this we ascend
An absence of body is this what reality means
How they merge so, no overlap they transcend

This unity of souls this apotheosis of scenes
Not black images, but souls laid out leading us
to where non physical self is what life means

Would that we were they, to join without fuss
A unity of mind and souls, I wish it were thus.


-----

Why?

Why does the wind howl so loud at night
When all the world is locked in slumber
Or seemingly to have fled in fright?

The streets all empty, damp and sombre
Contrasting colours merely white and black
With yellow street lamps turning puddles umber.

Why do night creatures prowl a relentless track
Leaving nothing safe in their search for food
And seeking unwary victims to attack?

Dark alleys breed festering deeds of no good
Storing the mortal sins of mankind
In garbage cans that hide hypocrisy and falsehood.

Why when it is darkest is it most unkind
The driving pain that wakes the deepest sleep
Making hours of thought swirling in the mind?

With the dull grey dawn and mind all in a heap
The lethargic body prepares for the daily fight
Ready to return later and the nocturnal vigil keep.


back to list


Terza Rima Renga

Stranger in Paradise
Etain Druantia

Each time we meet as strangers; it is always so
Unfamiliar with each other like each time before,
We must learn again, and touch, and feel, and grow.

Teagan De Danaan

Strangers, yet...sensing familiar at soul's core
Haunted by memories that are gauzy and unformed
Touch of eyes rivets, hands reach to explore.

Etain Druantia

This time we met, by my heart I was informed
That you and I are together again as one
So much tells me so, my senses are swarmed.

Teagan De Danaan

I'm surprised we meet, my quest for love is done
In your eyes I see something that I already know
Beneath this wall, my heart may be hard won.

Dera Cymreiges

We say nothing of our parting, events long ago
Allow sense of nostalgia to paint a rosy picture
Still, the past lingers with each - these times flow.

Lorainne Stark

Holding hands, in love again,feeling secure
On this virgin path without a compass
We erase the past satisfied with its closure.

Teagan De Danaan

I wonder, if this is this to be our opus
And if our souls will create a symphony
Or part in discord leaving another mess.

We can only try and share each others company
Ignoring the past and start to love anew
And letting Fate decide. What will be will be.

Dera Cymreiges

Maybe I can overlook my judgments of you
try to remember that we are mere mortals;
if we weren't, we would be here - but you knew.

Teagan De Danaan

I dreamed we would travel through portals
As yet unknown to ordinary lovers
I see now to you, it was merely anecdotal.

Etain Druantia

What magic would you bid us discover
behind the darkness of reality's blind?
A shimmer of promise tentatively hovers

Teagan De Danaan

Holding hands as together we try to find
The secret of an Eternity we could share
United like this we are no longer blind.

Dera Cymreiges

We could look into the future and dare
to dream dreams of our lives together
walking through this world without a care.

Teagan De Danaan

Knowing how you feel I wonder whether
You have been conditioned by a society
That deems we be tied by thongs of leather.

But I can tell you now in all piety
That lovers are not joined by leathered thongs
But by ties that will unite for all eternity.

Etain Druantia

A sigh can unite if two hearts belong
to each other while travelling the astral plane
where distance is neither right nor wrong.

Another dimension where the physical wanes
and souls torn apart can fuse life's tears {tares not teers}
The spirit dances freely beneath sun, moon, or rain.

Teagan De Danaan

Old wounds easily mended by love's repairs
Two souls touch, hold hands, and finally unite
And one complete soul ascends Eternity's stairs.

back to list




Any Comments or Suggestions, please email me

The Poetry Challenge
The Poets Garret
Tir na nOg