These silent servers line the way
but never get a second glance.
They stand so tall and never sway,
and always hold a noble stance.
They never get a second glance,
these modern totems that we see,
and always hold a noble stance,
as they perform so quietly.
What are these wonders, may you ask?
Look all around when you next stroll.
Communication is their task –
the worthy, stately telephone poles.
Look all around when you next stroll,
and really notice what you see.
The worthy, stately telephone poles
that serve the world so tirelessly.
Now really notice what you see.
They stand so tall and never sway,
and serve the world so tirelessly.
These silent servers line the way.
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Author Notes
The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.
The design is simple:
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5 (repeat of line 2)
Line 6
Line 7 (repeat of line 4)
Line 8
Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanza then repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first line of the poem is also the last.
Last stanza:
Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza
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