FanStory.com - This Moon, This Bridgeby Treischel
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A Ballade
Little Poems
: This Moon, This Bridge by Treischel
Poem of the Month contest entry


The moon shines bright in the indigo sky,
Intense the glow upon its pearly face,
Reminding me of love that drifted by,
When it is framed in stone of time and space,
As by this bridge's arch, that lends such grace.
For once we stood here watching such a moon,
And time's cruel ravages cannot replace
The memories of joys that left too soon.

So now I stand and sadly wonder why
Just how this circumstance could be the case --
Your lovely sight should only make me cry,
Reminding me of facts I can't erase
Of loving arms that held a warm embrace.
For now the love on that late afternoon,
From promises here, in this very place,
Are memories of joys that left too soon.

The sickness came along to set awry
Our plans to prosper in this chosen place.
As death's cruel touch decided to deny
The wedded happiness that couples chase,
And only such tragedy could displace.
Oh moon, you sing to me a sadder tune,
Because your sight sends signs I can't retrace,
The memories of joys that left too soon.

I never dreamt your light would now efface
This bridge's past delights. Oh no! Oh moon!
But now you cause my heart to madly race,
With memories of joys that left too soon.


Recognized

Author Notes
This is the Robert Street Bridge in Downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. I happened to capture this rising moon one evening while I was out on a walk. The story is pure fiction, just driven by a strange muse. It doesn't relate to anyone in particular.

This poem is a Ballade. I was reminded of this lovely format when I reviewed one recently by tfawcus, a fellow FanStorian, called Attention Span.
A Ballade is an Old French verse form that consists of three eight-line stanzas (Octaves) and a four-line envoy. The rhyme scheme is:
ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC, where the capital letters are the repeated lines.
The last line of the first stanza is repeated at the end of each of the subsequent stanzas and the envoy, creating an echoed thought. The difficulty of this format is that it only allows 3 rhymes (a,b, and c) throughout the 28 lines of the poem, none to be repeated. So the rhyming becomes quite a challenge. It is written in Pentameter.

This photograph was taken by the author himself on January 8, 2012.

     

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