RONDINE

This is another very neglected and a very challenging poetry form. It consists of two stanzas, a septet (7 lines), and a quintet (5 lines), making the poem a total of 12 lines.
There is a refrain which mimics the first phrase of the first line. R.
The Rondine has a rhyme scheme of, Ra. b. b. a. a. b. R....a. b. b. a. R.
The meter is open with the French style and not bound by a rhyming pattern and is a more light and buoyant even "flashy" form of poetry which uses short lines, whereas the English is more formal and uses Tetrameter or Pentameter.
Here is an example by Wesli Court.

Rondine of the Rare Device.
"if you can kiss the mistress never kiss the maid"

The maid will do if your not ambitious-
Why split the stalk if twigs will make the besom?
Why kill the roots if one may steal the blossom?
The garden is a plot of sundry pleasures
Filled with winding paths and rare devices,
Here a fountain, there a Grecian column-
The maid will do
Rose O'Morning winds upon the trellis
All hips and nettle snags and lures at random.
Is desire the better part of wisdom?
Brown-eyed Susan smiles from her bed of grasses-
The maid will do.

Wesli Court

Rondine Posts....Contents

Carly Svamvour: Roses in Bagdad
Lori Martin: April's Fool; Liquid Day
Leny Roovers: Book of Forms; Orchestra; Tessa; Tongues
Sal Coraccio: Pleading at Dawn
Ryter Roethicle: Cooling Breath; Desert Sand; I am the wind; There is no point; This love

Carly Svamvour

Roses in Bagdad

Oh, chaos rules again; they brawl
in wake of Saddam's fall from reign
and like a cat presents its game,
the roses snatched from castle walls
are bouquets for the heroes all.
But raging dogs must shake their claim.
Oh, chaos rules again.

The sun goes down, the evening call
is caution - death in fire and flame.
The find of jackets wired for pain
and empty hangers tell it all.
Oh, chaos rules again.

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Lori Martin

April's Fool

It is too late now I've stopped believing
winter's chill in bones plunges far too deep
in dark sorrow's blanket I lie and weep
the calendar's promise was deceiving
frost's minions continue their warmth-thieving
while I clutch at small comforts mine to keep.
It is too late

for heart's joy, my happiness I'm grieving
as I burrow deeper into calm of sleep
no peace sown in life but in Death shall reap
silence beckons so I must be leaving
It is too late.
-----
Liquid Day

Another liquid day clouds thought-sense
with its palette in shades of murky gray -
who invited Winter to this extended stay?
With sleet jewelry adorning every fence,
naked trees groan beneath icy opulence;
silver chiffon shimmers across the bay
on yet another liquid day.

In weary, hopeful eyes Spring rainbows dance,
restless leaves and blossoms coyly flirt and sway
a sun cloaked in gold sends freezing rain away;
brilliant aural prisms will caress each loving glance
until another liquid day.

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Leny Roovers

The Book of Forms

The Book of Forms can bring to each
the poetry he yearns to learn.
Aspiring poets will return
to search the knowledge within reach,
improving their poetic speech.
It teaches meter with concern,
The Book of Forms.

Examples shown, we don't impeach;
they're chosen carefully, in turn
parameters no longer burn,
bring freedom in constraint- a peach,
The Book of Forms.

-----

Orchestra

Orchestral waves of music, well defined,
as rondos stately dance with soft refrain
and graceful fingers weave in gentle reign;
the flute blends in with higher tones entwined,
supported by the violins in kind.
While bows glide up and down on passion's strain,
orchestral waves.

A hundred tiny notes are now combined,
as lustrous pearls are strung on shining chains;
the rippling sounds are threads that will sustain
lost harmony, when words are left behind
orchestral waves.

-----

Tessa

With one big leap she jumps upon my bed,
gives me a fright, I was away in dreams;
she bumps her head against my face and screams:
wake up, you lazy human, go ahead,
the sun is up, I haven't yet been fed!
What happened to the day's regimes?
With one big leap

she has destroyed the soft embrace that spread
through night skies, travelled moonlit beams
to bring us both together on love's streams;
now all too sudden waking broke the thread-
with one big leap.

-----

Tongues

A serpent's tongue is treacherous, it feigns,
with hypnotizing speed it moves, hides fangs
until too late, the victim feels its pangs.
As poison from sharp teeth is sent through veins
it slowly paralyses nerves and brain;
the body falters, as its last call rang-
a serpent's tongue.

The snake is slithering away, it strains
and tries to swallow up what once still sang;
the gorging done, it leaves a bitter tang-
the venom that was used, changed course, remains
a serpent's tongue.

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Sal Coraccio

Pleading at Dawn

Just five more minutes, please I beg of you,
This dream is nearly done and so am I,
For if I cannot sleep I'll surely die -
Besides I have some flying left to do,
A lover somewhere close or perhaps two,
And I can barely open up one eye -
Just five more minutes.

A morning's rest in bed is overdue,
I've images in adequate supply
and fantasies aplenty left to try;
I cannot bear to bid it all adieux -
Just five more minutes.

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Teagan De Danaan

Cooling Breath

A cooling breath steals the leaves
As all the greens fade to yellow.
The golden scene makes me mellow
Chilly, short days and long autumn eves
T-shirts replaced by long shirtsleeves
But I know in time warmth will follow
A cooling breath.

Now nature no longer conceives
And fields lay silent, sleeping, fallow,
Burnt out forests look dark and sallow
In time will change as nature receives
A cooling breath.

-----
Desert Sand

THE desert sand hides all its tales
And all that's left is a rich red sea.
More silent by far than water could be,
As it covers up all of histories trails
Time after time all searching fails.
Enigmatic, retaining its mysteries
The desert sand hides all.

Sometimes for a while it reveals
A wondrous event of yesteryear
A veil drawn aside for all to see
Then again it's mysteries it seals
The desert sand hides all.

-----
I am the wind

I am the wind breathing on the land
Each breath freshens, brings new life,
Or a bitter wind cutting like a knife.
See how the spirals twist in the sand
Or wave upon wave on the strand
A dead, brown sea that comes alive
Blown by the wind.

I am the wind playing on the water
Scattering waves into foaming spume
Turning the brightest day into gloom
Or calm on which waves lightly scutter
I AM the wind.

-----
There is no point

There is no point to life at all
if all we ever have is pain,
and with each birth the same.
Throughout life we pay a toll
such a cost if we should fall
there can be nothing to gain
There is no point.

In life's game we make a call
sometimes there is a gain
or sometimes we bet in vain
and life is worth naught at all
There is no point.

-----

This love

THIS love, vision how it finds us
Joining who were as strangers
Unified, forever, in this love.
This love, mirrored now forever
We will love throughout the ages,
Two who share eternity together
In love.

This love, picture us a couple,
Older now and much wiser,
More sharing of each other
Knowing that there will always be
This love

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