For the dverse prompt, a couple of stanzas in the style of the Rubaiyat.
What did I dream before the words took hold
Before the sun, the moon, the stars grew old?
I squandered time, knew little of its worth,
Beneath soft nights of silver, days of gold.
The hand, the heart that guide the words to birth
Have grown in strength, an oak tree’s mighty girth,
Your face before me lighting day and night,
I learn to write the beauty of our earth.
I really love the conclusion… words should grow from soil.
Thanks Bjorn. They grow from somewhere fundamental and you can’t get much more fundamental than the earth.
Very nice sound! I like the soft nights of silver and days of gold and writing of the beauty of our earth.
Thank you, Frank 🙂
The universe to guide you, and direct your life. What a great rubai!yat
Thanks Walter. There’s nothing greater. Not that I know of anyway 🙂
😃
I love the opening question, Jane, and the romance in:
‘Your face before me lighting day and night,
I learn to write the beauty of our earth’.
Thanks Kim. It’s the opening line of a poem I’ve written several times. I don’t know why, but the phrase nags at me.
Then it must be special, Jane. 🙂
I may find out why one day 🙂
I really like the opening question and then the answer at the end. And such a lovely poem.
Thank you 🙂
🙂
I love your imagination that fills this poem!
Dwight
I’m not short on imagination, Dwight. Wish I had just a smidgen of business acumen though 🙂
LOL! Perhaps you sell yourself short!
Nope. I’m exaggerating 🙂
Very nice Jane
Thanks Lyn 🙂
I can tell you love this old planet of ours. And, you love words. ❤️
I do, I do 🙂
I like the idea that we do learn something, eventually. I hope we do. (K)
So do I. I’m groping towards it, hoping to get a revelation one day.
Love this line…The hand, the heart that guide the words to birth….. You really took to the form 🙂
Rhythm and rhyme. I like it 🙂
This is beautiful. Never too late to learn. Words give us strength. And strength gives us words.
Thanks Mary. The learning never stops.
You nailed it, Jane! The iambic pentameter is so smoothly done that I read the poem and just appreciated its sense….rather than getting caught in the rhythm and the rhyme. Wow! And I love the idea of using the mighty oak’s girth for strength here. Just a superb response to what I considered quite a challenging prompt! You must have slipped into some sparkly ruby red slippers to write this ruby-aht! 🙂
Lillian, Queen of the Pun 🙂 It’s a question of hearing the music, I suppose. I hear the rhythm and I have a wide vocabulary to find the right words to fit it. I’m honored by your praise, appreciate it 🙂
Jane, your verse is radiant!
Thank you, Lyn! I’m pleased you enjoy it 🙂
Silver and gold, moon and stars…all so lovely!
The natural things are 🙂 Thanks Kathy.
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
🙂
Reblogged this on Reena Saxena.
Thanks for reblogging, Reena 🙂
Reblogged this on BOOK CHAT and commented:
Please read and enjoy Jane Dougherty’s beautiful response to the dverse prompt “a couple of stanzas in the style of the Rubaiyat.”
Thank you, Michelle!
My pleasure! 💗
🙂
Your poem filled me with nostalgia and romance, questions and the realization that there is no need for answers. Just dig into the Earth, literally and figuratively. Wonderful poem!
Thank you! I don’t do meditation or religion or any mystical stuff, but I try to be at ease with not having material wealth, putting up with the discomforts, and digging down into what really matters. I don’t always succeed, but I try 🙂
❤