Secret lovers
Whispering
Sweet nothings
That scream
Bitter everything
To wound the one
Who bears witness
To now erstwhile secret
For no armor can protect
The heart wound in love
From the cruelty
Of that which it loves
But loves it not in return
dVerse Poets Pub | Quadrille #128: What’s in a word?
At dVerse, Lillian tends bar and wants to know What’s in a word? And what’s the word for this challenge: wound. She makes our Quadrille poem a bit tougher by challenging us to include the word twice – using both meanings / pronunciations of the homographic pair.
Whether we use the word once or twice in the body of the poem, the poem must be exactly 44 words in length – not including the title.
Raivenne-lations 
I haven’t tried a quadrille. I didn’t, in fact, know it was a poem form. I thought it was a dance! (I think that idea was born of singing a quadrille in a chamber choir years ago and thinking it sounded like music to accompany dancing. Hmm …)
I like the turns in this poem, the way it seems to be heading one way and then slips past expectation and goes another way. Also, I love-love-love this new template!
So I had to go look it up … and found that the quadrille is a dance! Which fits nicely with this poem that describes a cruel dance.
Well since you looked it up I don’t have to explain how spot on you were. 😁 I’ve written more quadrilles than glosas and you know I love glosa. I’m sure you’ve commented on other quadrilles I’ve penned before, but didn’t notice the forrm as the shape changes with the tales told.
And yes, it is a cruel dance. Thank you.
Oh, thanks for the template love. I looked at the previous one and wanted a change. I went through several over a few days until I was satisfied.
A cruel dance indeed…..and the photo/illustration you chose to accompany your words is perfect. Cruelty in love can be so so very painful.
Thanks Lillian. I saw the image a few days ago and kept it. I knew I wanted to use it, but didn’t know where… Then you posted your prompt. It was meant to be.
Wounded from love, or a cruel lover is horrible. The man in the photo looks like he knows what he’s doing. He looks like a cruel lover.
Thus the title. He’s caught, but clearly does not care. Cruel indeed. Thanks Merril.
You’re welcome!
LOVE the title of your Quadrille and everything that follows.
Thanks Helen.
As Lilian says, the photo is perfect. He looks ready to break a heart and not care.
Exactly. Thanks writingwhatnots.
“whispering / sweet nothings / that scream / bitter everything.” What you’ve done with these lines is fascinating here. Ohhh those words can sound so beautiful on the surface – but to know of the betrayal behind them only makes them crueler…
Much crueler. Thanks Lainie.
“Whispering sweet nothings that scream bitter everything,”.. I felt this deeply! This is usually the outcome of secret relationships.. they end in cruelty. Gorgeously rendered! 💝
Than you, Sanaa.
This makes me shudder… when love is the hostage to lust you always end up in uneven relationships.
Very uneven, thanks Björn .
You wrote about this topic well within this prompt. Nicely done.
Thanks Arcadia.
Great use of the prompt words. Unrequited love is bound to cause some painful wounds!
Thanks, Ingrid!
Wounded in love is very painful. Good one.
Have a goow weekend.