Well, I did a ghazal for dverse. One for Brigid’s night.
We build our winter fire on this night,
Amid rose and sweet briar on this night.
To chase the shadows dim, beseech the light
To grant us our desire on this night.
Sparks rise up to the stars, a pure delight,
Spring hopes will never tire on this night.
Our songs and laughter, darkness put to flight,
Defy the storm crow’s gyre on this night.
The year has turned, no jealous sídhe or wight
Will drag joy in the mire on this night.
While I, the poet watch the firelight,
Flames climb, a scarlet spire on this night.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
I do like a poem that brings the sídhe to the dance. Fantastic stuff. Brigid herself would be proud.
She had a cold night of it last night, but as least she had a moon. Thanks Paul 🙂
Wow–well done, Jane! A touch of Yeats, too?
Thank you! Yeats could be lingering in the firelight with this one 🙂
🙂
Yes, I second the Yeats. I can feel the dance. (K)
Fire festivals are like that 🙂
Brilliant! Simply brilliant!
I’m pleased you like it, Frank 🙂
Well done, and with the rhyme. I don’t have the patience to work that out.
It’s not something I like to tackle often either 🙂
My family loves campfires, and your poem describes them well. I can’t wait for spring when we have our first fire in the firepit in our woods!
I’ve never been camping. We had a tent when I was little but we never managed to get it to stay up…
This is the first time I heard of “sídhe”, but it seems they are a kind of faery or unusual race of beings.
The sídhe were the old, magical inhabitants of Ireland before the Milesian invasion. History or legend, depends who you ask 🙂
Ahhh! Yes!
🙂
Your ghazal reads like a prayer, Jane, and I can also feel the rhythm of the dance around the winter fire – and I love the end couplet.
I’m glad you like it, Kim. I feel a bit of a twit because I made the whole thing so complicated. I could have sworn the rules I read said it had to have all those rhymes!
Knowing Paul,, he left it pretty open and the rules were just for guidance. I find ghazals are tricky. I tried one before, which I think might have been one of your prompts but completely forgot how to do it this time. I had to work really hard at it.
The problem I find with picking and choosing among the rules is that there’s the danger of losing the point of the form completely. I imagine Persian poetry was pretty strict about form and content. It’s a hard act to follow.
I love how you describe the bonfire…the touch of scarlet in the flames.
Thank you, Kathy 🙂
I read this sitting in from of the fireplace and I can swear the faeries danced while I read it.
I’m sure they were dancing, Bjorn, the fairies, the trolls, everything 🙂
Spring hopes will never tire on this night. – love this line Jane, it evokes a goodbye to a season and anticipating another
Thank you, Gina! That’s exactly what the festival is all about 🙂
I love your firelight musings… the hypnotic fire secures the night!
Dwight
It is hypnotic, you’re right 🙂 I’m pleased you enjoyed the poem.
I enjoyed this form too. I muse along with you.
I like it when it works out, but it’s fiddlly and I’m not always in the mood 🙂
I do know that feeling, Jane. There’s times I see a prompt and don’t write for it. There is something in a job accomplished.
There is that. And the ghazal makes a good poem when it’s done well, whereas some of the other forms that require syllable counts and a strict order of adjective, noun and verb don’t really do it for me.
I used to like the Sunday Whirl and prompts like that but not so much anymore. I don’t want to be told what words to put in my work but that’s just me. Lol! I’m just getting over a cold have a nice weekend!
You too 🙂 I know what you mean. Sometimes the words themselves are simply words i’d never use in a poem, ever;
Yes! Have a great week ahead!
You too!
I love how well your ghazal flows! I had trouble with this form and it’s nice to see it done well.
I’m glad you like it. It is a difficult form and demands too much precision for my taste, but it’s a good exercise once in a while 🙂