Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Song Sestina

The sestina follows a strict pattern of the repetition of the initial six end-words of the first stanza through the remaining five six-line stanzas.


We sing a solo song
No one provides the harmony
To compliment our single note
Or establish a surrounding chord
But we produce the melody
And measure out each phrase

In the passing of the phrase
The solitude becomes a song
A beckoning melody
Encouraging the harmony
To join and form a chord
To comfort the lonely note

But when we hear each note
As separate from the phrase
The underlying chord
Forms a universal song
Deep and rich in harmony
Detached from a single note

And the overlying melody
Which changes with each note
Provides a greater harmony
Than words could ever phrase
As we all join the great song
Beyond the final chord

And as that chord
Resolves, and the melody
Is ended, the song
Reaches further than a mere note
Ever could, and each resounding phrase
Rings with angelic harmony

The glorious harmony
Of knowing that the chord
Was always present, and the phrase
Established for us long before the first melody
Was ever conceived, and the first note
Ever added to the song.


Shadow Ocean
2003

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