A quadrille for dverse. I’ve used the form bide rather than abide as it’s the form that’s used where I come from.
This is my place where I will bide
though the world rolls by a different course
and the seas roll back a different tide;
I’ll wait beneath the willow tree
for leaves to fall, boughs to leaf
and you coming striding home to me.
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Beautiful x
Thank you 🙂
Oh, we wrote almost the same theme… to wait for a loved one is such a romantic image I think… and I really hope that he’ll return.
Almost. Maybe mine sounds sinister too!
I didn’t think yours sounded sinister–but also didn’t at first with Björn’s. But this could be, too, in a particular context, I suppose. 😏
When the narrator is obviously hoping for something there’s always the possibility that it’s not going to happen. Then you wonder why not…
Or who the narrator is.
That too.
Heart-warming. Loved this.
Glad you like this!
I’m glad too.
🙂
So poignant and full of longing. I used ‘bide’ as well as ‘abide’ and didn’t really think about why the form differs, but now you’ve made me think about that, thank you!
I think bide is the older form and they still use it in the north. It scans better too 🙂
I am showing my Northern roots then!
I think you must be 🙂
This is stellar writing, Jane! The poem in my opinion can be interpreted in several ways. For me, the longing here is palpable ❤️
Thank you, Sanaa! There could certainly be many endings for this story.
This is lovely and I agree there’s a sense of longing. It’s interesting about bide and abide. I think I’ve maybe used bide in other poems. Neither word comes up much in conversation.😀
No, you’re right. Both words are old-fashioned, but sometimes, especially in poetry, old-fashioned fits nicely 🙂
They do! 😀
🙂
Such a lovely form to this one!
Thank you! It’s funny the way it turned out. I didn’t set out to write in that particular form.
Sometimes those accidents turn out to be good ones!
Yes, and it’s a very satisfying feeling 🙂
Such a beautiful place to bide. Great accompaniment for your lovely poem.
If I had to live in a city, there are worse than Bordeaux. Thanks Beverly 🙂
I love your use of rhyme scheme, Jane – and that “striding” is so vigorous. Lovely poem.
Thank you! I wrote it in a single line and put rhymes in where I thought there should be one, and then chopped it up. The lengths came out just about right 🙂
Yeah, the striding return grabbed me, too! Great work, JD
Thanks Ron. That is the one word I thought about and replaced. Funny.
Powerhouse poem, Jane. I’m thinking of that Hollies song, “The Air That I Breathe.”
Thanks Lisa 🙂 I know the song but don’t think I ever knew the words. I’ll have to look for the lyrics.
stunning
Thank you!
I like the ambiguity of it…there is waiting and then there are other waitings. My first sense was of timelessness, which seemed full of knowing. (K)
The waiting without hope doesn’t prevent it being as long and persistent as waiting when we know how it will end.
No it doesn’t.
Beautiful words.
Thank you 🙂
What a lovely image your words leave in my mind. This was my first time writing a Quadrille. Great fun! ❤
Thanks Colleen 🙂 It’s an easy form and it’s only limited by the number of words so it’s simple to tinker with the lines.
I had fun! A good break from packing. 🤣❤️
You’re off again?
Yes. Moving to Michigan. This was a financial redo to do get settled for retirement. Our house is under contract and we’ve found a house there, too. Lots of friends in Michigan, so it feels like going home. ❤️
I hope it feels like the right place to be 🙂
It does. This is a good move. ❤️
I keep feeling that way, then the wanderlust kicks in again.
LOL! We’re about at the end of wanderlust. Our gypsy blood is finally simmering down. 🤣
Never say never 🙂
That’s what we said when we moved to AZ. LOL! 😀
🙂
I liked the sweet anticipation in this poem, Jane!
Would “you come striding” sound better (than “coming striving”)?
…striding 🙂
Thanks Lynn 🙂
It doesn’t fit the sense. It has to follow in the same phrase from ‘I wait for you…’ so it could be ‘to come striding’. Both scan. Not sure why I chose the option I did.
my inner editor feels gratified 🙂
🙂
Wow. Stunning.
Thank you!
This place looks like my garden, where we have a willow tree, Jane, the perfect place to wait for a loved one. I love the lines:
‘though the world rolls by a different course
and the seas roll back a different tide’
which suggest that the speaker has been waiting a long time, could even be a ghost.
Thanks Kim, I’m glad you caught the incertitude in the poem.
Very nice. Sometimes the world does seem to be passing us by, or following a different course, but we still have our integrity.
It doesn’t really matter what the rest of the world does. We’re only responsible for what we do.
The sense of quiet and determined waiting – for ever if needed – and time and seasons passing somewhere outside of this – marvellous stuff – it has an Emily Dickinson feel to it.
Thank you. I haven’t read much Emily Dickinson, I daren’t. Something tells me I risk turning into her.
Laughing here.
I thought of the green willow, a bride who bides (Celtic reference) stirs the soul Jane.
Thank you, Paul. The woman who waits is a common theme throughout the history of humanity. Maybe it’s changing.
I think it’s morphed into they wait.
Ha, yes, probably. I’ve often wondered about the plural of ‘they’…
It’s now fluid as my trans friends tell me.
Not so fluid that you don’t have to get it right though.
Ah, yes, I have made that mistake and learned.
“Bide” as patience, something I also saw in Björn’s poem, and an aspect of love that’s often overlooked.
Patience of any kind doesn’t get much airplay these days of instant gratification.
Lovely contrast with all the movements and the stationary one who is waiting – some very beautiful lines too
“though the world rolls by a different course
and the seas roll back a different tide;”
It’s a female thing, waiting for the man, passive. That’s changing, thank goodness.
Plain lovely as a ballad, Jane. I can see this set to an Irish tune.
Thank you 🙂 The funny thing is I wrote it in a single line and split it into 2×3 lines when I reached 44 words. I tend to think in iambic 🙂
That explains the very natural rhythm to the lines.
And the fact that I talk to my dog and the cats more than any human being (except husband).
🙂
No better place to wait than under a willow tree… but for how long? I know it’s a romantic notion but how long has she been waiting and how long will she be willing to?
Lovely writing.
Everyone’s mileage is different. Thankfully, we’re getting less tolerant these days and the waiting is likely to be very short-lived
That is so true. And I find the older I get, the less I want to waste my time waiting…
No reason why women should be passive and men active. But many of us find ourselves waiting anyway because often it needs cash to change things.
So true. Good thing we now make our own cash nowadays…😉
It’s the biggest barrier to having an easy life.
Agree!
This is such a lovely poem. I love waiting under the willow tree. That is my favorite tree and the boughs here still have leaves in the autumn chill.
Thank you 🙂 Our willows are still hanging on too, but the leaves will all be gone when the winter gales hit.