Sunday, January 10, 2016

All is possible my child - A Rubai Lullaby

sun+IMG_1467.jpg





All is possible my child – A Rubai Lullaby*


All is possible my child
In moon-spill I shall keep you from the wild
Hold the savage thoughts far from you as you fall
I shall sing songs to you - keep you beguiled

My child possible is all
as into sleep tumbling you fall
wishes into futures tinkle as pocket-change sift
larks shall fly and self-songs sweetly call

My child all is a gift
twirling whirling on the drift
as jingling skeletons whitely dance
over each crested wave you I shall lift

Until time tumbles into sweet mouth surprise
unassisted you step to slumber, wake at sunrise
shake sleep from clear visioned dreaming eyes

stretch to walk strong-legged your horizon’s rise  




* combined the PA Rubbai Form Challenge including wordle words 
Poetic Asides


For those unfamiliar (as was I with the rubai or interlocking rubaiyat- the form is explained below) 
Poetic Asides Form Challenge 


Interlocking Rubaiyat: Poetic Form


I’ve long been familiar with the 12th-century Persian work, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, but I did not recognize it as a form. And without piecing it together, one of my all-time favorite poems (“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” by Robert Frost) executes interlocking rubaiyat to perfection. Just goes to show that no matter how much one thinks he knows, there’s still so much more to learn. Or at least, there’s still “miles to go before I sleep.”  
Here are the rules of the interlocking rubaiyat:   The poem is comprised of quatrains following an aaba rhyme pattern.
Each successive quatrain picks up the unrhymed line as the rhyme for that stanza. So a three-stanza rubaiyat might rhyme so: aaba/bbcb/ccdc. 
Sometimes the final stanza, as in Frost’s example above, rhymes all four lines.

13 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful........a wonderful lullaby for a beloved grandchild, is how I read it........lovely, lovely, my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow!! Such a thought provoking piece :D
    Beautifully written.


    Lots of love,
    Sanaa

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think we need to instill such sweet hope in the children of the world.

    ReplyDelete
  4. An interesting, adventurous play with the form.

    ReplyDelete
  5. enjoyed this. beguiling.

    gracias for this moment

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a beautiful poem - a real gift for that child - and an interesting form that flows effortlessly and captivatingly

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh Pearl this is wonderful....I love how you arranged the lines like, 'My child possible is all'....they were magical and so creative to read with the word order shifted a bit!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is absolutely stunning. I do not know the reference to Rubbai, but this is quite beautiful. "...in moon-spill I shall keep you from the wild..." "...wishes into future tinkle as pocket-change sift..." so many beautiful lines.

    ReplyDelete
  9. So beautiful Pearl… may the child within us all keep our hearts open to possibilities beyond the horizon, beyond what we can know or see just yet.

    ReplyDelete
  10. this lullaby is perfect for a smooth groove ballad. I can see myself dreaming to its lulling pace.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I can see the bliss on the child's face as he drifts off the sleep because of the efforts here!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great job and a lot of work writing in the format.
    I envy you the work.
    Nicely done - clear eyed vision and writing.
    Randy

    ReplyDelete