For while she weeps,
Sorrow keeps as
pain sweeps her heart.
Torn apart as
it thwarts the chance
to romance the
soul’s dance that’s stilled.
Passions killed by
tears spilled in ache.
Spirit breaks. It’s
a snake that crawls,
As it sprawls there
then squalls and rails
driving nails, it
assails heart’s halls.
But it falls hard
Soon all hurts slow.
Pain will go, and
she’ll know – she’s free.
<>==========<>==========<>
This is a Than Bauk form.
The Than-Bauk is a three line “climbing rhyme” poem of Burmese origin. Conventionally a witty saying or epigram, it’s even shorter than a haiku, but a lot more structured. Each Than-Bauk is three lines of four syllables each with the rhyme on the fourth, third and second syllables of each line respectively.
| O. O. O. a. O. O. a. O. O. a. O. O. |
Than-Bauks can be chained together to form a longer poem where the last syllable of the third line starts the rhyme of the next…
| O. O. O. a. O. O. a. O. O. a. O. b. O. O. b. O. O. b. O. c. O. O. c. O. O. c. O. etc. |
or you can “staircase” them…
| O. O. O. a. O. O. a. O. O. a. O. b. O. O. O. b. O. O. O. c. |
<>==========<>
Raivenne-lations 
whew….wicked rhythm in this…and so true ont he snake it becomes winding its way in….and taking root…but pain ends (hopefully) and we can once more be free…
You had to see the twisting I did to get this to rhyme properly…
Thanks Brian
Love this. Also would love to have you host an article on the form in the future for FormForAll. Would you be interested? Let me know – gaycannon@yahoo.com. Plenty of time to decide but it’s an interesting new form to me and I love how it feels so internal and external with the rhyme scheme turning throughout. Very musical!
Thank you Gay. I will email you separately on hosting.
Wow–works for me! Loved this!
Thank you Audrey.
Beautiful form and words.
Thanks Charles.
Wow..I love this form…yet another one that I’m unfamiliar with…but like the tight rhyme scheme internally placed. Yes, pain usually does subside so we can once again be free from its all-encompassing clutches.
I enjoy trying new forms, especially short ones like this that go against the grain of my verbose nature.
Glad you enjoyed the form and the write, Bodhirose – thanks.
I’ve never heard of this form. Your poem is beautiful. It rivals the sestina in its complexity.
Oh the sestina, I have written a couple of those. Yes, that is indeed a complex form.
Thank you Tigerbrite.
Mega late but this is deep though short. And I like this Than-Bauk form.. wonder if I can use it in my rhymes..hmm
Thank you, Vyse.
There’s no such thing as late for a new discovery. This form would be interesting to hear spoken aloud, give it a shot.