Music for the Soul -- A Sestina

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TerryW
Senior Member

since 2000-03-23

Posts 779
Louisville, Mississippi, USA

0 posted 2007-05-01 03:17 PM

Music for the Soul

I have seated myself before the spacious stage,
This earthen firmament of mortar and rough hewn stone,
With a passionate and willingly receiving heart;
To bask in the sweet and unchained melody,
And feel upon my weary soul the softest caress
Of heavenly voices raining down over me in song.

My anticipation for the first beautiful note of song
Grows with every moment I wait by the looming stage;
I ache with longing for the harmonious caress,
The rhythm of power that can move even stone;
And wash the world in heavenly melody,
Melting the ice of loneliness from my frigid heart.

How long since my pained and aching heart
Could spread wings and soar on the music of song?
When did I last lose myself in beautiful melody?
Too long stranded upon this dusty and earthly stage,
Bound by mortal woes in this land of desolate stone;
Longing to feel the warmth of another’s tender caress.

Longing to warm another with my own gentle caress,
To calm the pounding of another’s heavily laden heart
Sealed and unmoving, rendered hard as darkest stone;
Searching for the refrain from that most beautiful song
Whereby freeing a solitary soul to move upon the stage,
And create a most lovely and striking rebirth through melody.

Through the air floats the first strings of glorious melody
Bathing the audience in the sweet pleasing aural caress;
Drifting sweetly down from celestial stage
And flowing directly into my overwhelmed heart;
Drawing each listener as a perfect instrument into the song,
And leaving in its wake a silence as cold as stone.

And the earth - cold, hard, dark, and forbidding stone,
Shines in the colors created by the beautiful melody,
And the angelic voices that cast aloud the notes of the sacred song
Ease the ache of tortured souls with a symphonic caress;
Soothing the turbulence of the once wild and untamed heart
That sways softly with the hallowed host upon the consecrated stage.

One by one, each listener receives a throne upon the stage of ancient stone,
Each heart is cleaned and purified by all-forgiving melody;
And given rest and piece on high, within the caress of heavenly song.
****************************************************

Hello, dear friends,
I have been reading again

I came across this type of poem, the Sestina, in a book and just HAD to try my hand at it as well. Let's see what WikiPedia says about it .....

A sestina is a highly structured poem consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a tercet (called its envoy or tornada), for a total of thirty-nine lines. The same set of six words ends the lines of each of the six-line stanzas, but in a different order each time; if we number the first stanza's lines 123456, then the words ending the second stanza's lines appear in the order 615243, then 364125, then 532614, then 451362, and finally 246531. This organization is referred to as retrogradatio cruciata ("retrograde cross"). These six words then appear in the tercet as well, with the tercet's first line usually containing 1 and 2, its second 3 and 4, and its third 5 and 6 (but other versions exist, described below). English sestinas are usually written in iambic pentameter or another decasyllabic meter.

Whew ! A mouthful, huh?

OK, so here's my first try....I hope you all enjoy!

*** Please let me know what you think, and see if you can spot the timeline of transitions between Earth and Heaven as the stanzas progress! ***

~you reached inside, you touched my heart,
and I am all the better for it~
Terry A. Woodson, Jr.

Drauntz
Member Elite

since 2007-03-16

Posts 2905
Los Angeles California

1 posted 2007-05-01 03:46 PM

very good, very good.
I was thinking to write one but I gave up or not, still looking for the six magic words.

thank you for the sharing. it is beautiful.

quatro
Member

since 2003-04-29

Posts 392
Galveston, Texas

2 posted 2007-05-01 04:37 PM

((applauding))

TerryW,

Wonderful first attempt. This is a fun style, I also found it to be challenging, but once completed...(sigh) I sensed a great deal of accomplishment. I like how it transitions from one stanza to the next and then ties them all together in the end.

Nice job!

quatro

Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

3 posted 2007-05-01 05:45 PM

Well you deserve an applause for composing this masterful "Music for the Soul".

I confess I am not patient enough to try a sestina, but I admire who succeeds.

Very good job.

Love,
Margherita

Earth Angel
Member Empyrean

since 2002-08-27

Posts 40215
Realms of Light

4 posted 2007-05-01 07:08 PM

Standing ovation for this outstanding and sensuous sestina!

Saved faster than you can say "sacred song"!

~ and thank you for the definition of a sestina, Teacher Poet.

Loving hug 'n a pat on the back!

Linda

SPIRIT
Senior Member

since 2002-12-29

Posts 1745
California Desert

5 posted 2007-05-04 12:04 PM

I do believe I wrote one of these once, nowhere near as fine as this one...a beautiful scribe and read ~ thank you.

Dinah

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