Chipped Away

Never one for romances
I was blinded to arrive
Apart from old advances
By time’s sweetest contrive

You chipped at the iciness
That fear had given quarter
Revealing warm spiciness
Under this cold heart’s mortar

With twin hearts now emblazing
Gave no choice but to sever
The cold to the amazing
This love so dear so clever


Day 2 of National Poetry Writing Month I bring you an Ae Freislighe poem

The Ae Freislighe (ay fresh-lee) is an old poetic form from Ireland. It has a quatrain stanzas (4-line stanzas) of only 7 syllables per line. What makes is interesting (and somewhat frustrating) is its rhyme scheme.

Lines 1 and 3 rhyme together, but they rhyme as three syllables (xxa)
Lines 2 and 4 rhyme together as two syllables (xb)

A unique element of the form is that the final syllable of the poem should be the same rhyme as the very first syllable of the poem. (Yes, I cheated here – rhyming the word, not the syllable. It said should not must – shoot me.)

An Ae Freislighe poem can be as concise as one stanza, or scale out as far as a poet wishes.

National Poetry Writing Month
20 years of 30 poems in 30 days

This Love’s Season

Spring came with a quickening
Belies frost from days ago
The verdant grass thickening
Wraps this love in rays aglow

Summer raised up paradise
Ablaze in tender poses
Focus on the edelweiss
Blinds this love’s thorns in roses

Autumn felt the forbidden
Narrowed eyes that look away
From tears that come unbidden
Cools this love gone so astray

Winter brought down Xanadu
Once filled with hope so pleasing
In apathy’s residue
Leaves this love interred, freezing

National Poetry Month for 2021 Day 2

Has me trying a brand new form (for me): Ae Freislighe Poems

The Ae Freislighe is an old poetic form from Ireland. It has a quatrain stanzas (4-line stanzas) of only 7 syllables per line. What makes is interesting (and somewhat frustrating) is its rhyme scheme.

Lines 1 and 3 rhyme together, but they rhyme as three syllables (xxa)

Lines 2 and 4 rhyme together as two syllables (xb)

A unique element of the form is that the final syllable of the poem should be the same rhyme as the very first syllable of the poem.

An Ae Freislighe poem can be as concise as one stanza, or scale out as far as a poet wishes.