Night Journey [terza rima]
(by way of PROLOGUE)
In the midst of life suppose I lost my way?
if I jot as one sitting fast beside the road
unstymied words inscribing sans dismay
albeit the fall of evening could forebode
a land of chill unfazed were I by fear
befuddlement serves as wine withal my load
what satchel of thought I carry held as dear
were light to bear nor needs untoward exertion
but whither proceed? direction’s far from clear
then what if I strum my zither? (heart’s assertion
proposes) mightn’t the scene’s dark disarray
gleam lucent amid minstrelsy’s devotion?
and supposing here one settled a spell to stay?
beside the way where a pool could play as ocean
one voyages where shadowing branches sway
========
A few months back, I wrote AN INLAND JOURNEY -- a narrative poem (in five Parts plus an Epilogue). I had tersely described it thus:
========
The gentle Reader may understand that the stanzas of the PROLOGUE propose a scene wherein the overall POEM will, then, unfold -- as (that is) a Ballad sung by the Poet whom we hear in the prologue.
The portions are as follows:
============
AN INLAND JOURNEY (a fable)
PROLOGUE: Night Journey (in terza rima, above)
PART ONE: At World's End
PART TWO: An Evening's Tale
PART THREE: Voices in Fugue
PART FOUR: Late Beyond Matins
PART FIVE: Figments of Figure
EPILOGUE
In the midst of life suppose I lost my way?
if I jot as one sitting fast beside the road
unstymied words inscribing sans dismay
albeit the fall of evening could forebode
a land of chill unfazed were I by fear
befuddlement serves as wine withal my load
what satchel of thought I carry held as dear
were light to bear nor needs untoward exertion
but whither proceed? direction’s far from clear
then what if I strum my zither? (heart’s assertion
proposes) mightn’t the scene’s dark disarray
gleam lucent amid minstrelsy’s devotion?
and supposing here one settled a spell to stay?
beside the way where a pool could play as ocean
one voyages where shadowing branches sway
========
A few months back, I wrote AN INLAND JOURNEY -- a narrative poem (in five Parts plus an Epilogue). I had tersely described it thus:
Written July 5-10, 2006, this narrative cycle (a fabulistic ballad), divided into 16 sections, is comprised of 64 quatrains in all.The above little poem (in terza rima) will now serve as the poem-cycle's Prologue. This, then, fully completes the cycle.
========
The gentle Reader may understand that the stanzas of the PROLOGUE propose a scene wherein the overall POEM will, then, unfold -- as (that is) a Ballad sung by the Poet whom we hear in the prologue.
The portions are as follows:
============
AN INLAND JOURNEY (a fable)
PROLOGUE: Night Journey (in terza rima, above)
PART ONE: At World's End
PART TWO: An Evening's Tale
PART THREE: Voices in Fugue
PART FOUR: Late Beyond Matins
PART FIVE: Figments of Figure
EPILOGUE
posted by david raphael israel at 12:00 AM
2 Comments:
Ah, the epic continues.
It needn't be completed, you know; you could add a prologue to the prologue.
I like terza rima; I find it distinctly unclunky. In your third stanza there's a nice near-rhyme between "dear" and "bear." I think a form that did this consistently (end rhymes in the TR form with regular near-rhymes internally) might be pretty interesting.
Also makes me think of sonic double-meaning possibilites (deer & bear). Too fried to expand right now, and the phone's ringing... all best...
Well observed, thanks Andy. True, there's perhaps always scope for another box outside the box. Such things were favored even in some ancient epics. Like where one finds that the whole of the Mahabharata or Ramahana were recited in such-and-such place by so-and-so -- and that becomes a box enclosing the story. (I'm a little vague on where one finds that device, but recall, for instance, how some stories were said to have been told by Siva to his wife Parvati, or by some or other sage or sage's wife, etc.)
Chatting with the late composer Lou Harrison on the night of the premiere of his "Final Symphony" (as he dubbed it), he remarked, "I could always write another, Last Final Symphony" [or some such -- not quite verbatim], albeit nature (at least) ultimately imposes a limit, draws a curtain.
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