Friday 26 April 2013

NaPoWriMo day 25

NaPoWriMo day 25 is ballad-day – I’ve amended the traditional abab rhyme-form slightly by putting in alternate abcc-rhyming verses – kind of half way between a ballad and an ottava rima, and back to one of my fave topics - nature…

The Ballad of Woodland Pond

Lacustrine waters gladed,
Away from public gaze,
Kingcups burst unfaded,
Into golden sunlit rays.

Tadpoles hide enshaded,
In tiny hidden bays,
Confound the heron’s stabbing beak,
They’ll all grow legs before next week.

Sylvan pool a-shimmer,
Rippled by the breeze,
Surface-world pond-skimmers,
Dart beneath the trees.

Brimstone’s yellow glimmer,
Flutters past the bumblebees,
The pollen and the nectar sweet,
From flowers bloomed in April heat.

Sticklebacks swim figure-eights,
Between the cut-stem reeds,
To claim their patches, so to mate,
Amongst the silted weed.

Manic whirligigs gyrate,
Spinning black-shine beads,
Then, briefly glimpsed splay-footed newt,
Clasping yellow-iris roots.

Jut-jawed dragon-nymph appears,
Basking in the glow,
Unexpectedly it’s speared,
By Nepa from below.

Blade-legs grip and grasp and shear,
Spike-mouthed, deceptive-slow,
Above, a mallard pair take flight,
Into the air and out of sight.

So we leave too, our day is done,
Mere watchers of undine’s domain,
Her history told, her tale fine-spun,
When will we see her realm again?

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