A Changing Heart
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The Sestina follows a strict pattern: a specific repetition of the six end-words of the first stanza, as the end words of the five remaining six-line stanzas -- the six stanzas culminating in a three-line envoi. (See the formula below this explanation.) The lines may be of any length, though in its initial incarnation, the Sestina followed a syllabic restriction. In the contemporary Sestina, the use of occasional slant rhyme/half-rhyme end words is acceptable. (Slant rhyme, also known as half-rhyme or imperfect rhyme, refers to words that almost rhyme or appear to the eye to do so.) Regarding my Sestina "A Changing Heart," I took such liberties.
Here is the prescribed form for the "Sestina." (Each number represents the last word of each of the 6 lines of the 6 stanzas):
1st stanza 1 2 3 4 5 6
2nd stanza 6 1 5 2 4 3
3rd stanza 3 6 4 1 2 5
4th stanza 5 3 2 6 1 4
5th stanza 4 5 1 3 6 2
6th stanza 2 4 6 5 3 1
Envoi (the last 3 lines -- the last 2 words):
2-5
4-3
6-1
(that is the most common one I saw on line) (I also saw)
6-2
1-4
5-3
Longing for heart-quiet
in the inevitable fall
into Winter’s short days of sun
forwarding to Spring’s
longer days — a circling back
in the sameness of time.
Heart-and-mind-numbing time
with no respite. A longing to quiet
those thoughts playing back
battle after battle. The awful
repetition. Mind and life wasting.
And, in the darkest season,
the conviction that the sun
will only half-rise in this lifetime
of mine. Feeling that sting
as from a bee’s disquiet
of green slumber. Swelling to a fault,
every damned day. Slamming me back,
season upon season. Holding me back.
Chilling me with doubt that sun-
shine can overcome rainfall
and that, invariably, given time,
better times will come and quietly
advance into Spring. Fast forward, past Spring
to Summer, and onto Fall springing
back to Winter, and round again. Flashbacks
ever more glaring under the sun, then, quite
out of the blue — a glance, a nod. Overrun
with fluttering, my heart paces in time
with fledging love’s free-fall.
And, with the passing of another Fall,
Winter heralds in the sweetest of Springs:
daffodils and Easter bonnets — a lifetime
of celebration ahead, no looking back.
Past risk and reason, I bask in the sun
that is love’s shine. Rain or shine, quiet
in the peace of it all, Fall after Fall, back
to Winter, Spring, Summer. Quiet as a Spring sun
bursting through clouds. Love, for all time, requited.
Copyright © Ruth Sabath Rosenthal | Year Posted 2014
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