A lullaby is love in tunes expressed,
A sonnet, symmetry’s own song;
A ballad’s form with sympathy’s impressed,
A threnody with silence throngs.
“Aa raa ro, aa ri roo!” the parent sings,
As octaves with their sestets sync;
The tale of living is the trial of wings,
As caged birds of rainbows think.
A villanelle’s refrains are of the earth,
An elegy is of the heart(h);
Ev’n blank, a verse’s rhythm is of birth,
And nurs’ry rhymes have little art.
Around our soils the mightiest oceans curve,
Our loss is theirs; their loss is ours;
On polished roads, our lives career and swerve,
Like children tired at twilight’s hour.
A hymn is thoughts of God in verbal deeds,
A limerick’s the wit of chance;
An ode to aught belongs to honour’s creed,
A requiem memory’s fading dance.
In One one starts and in One does one end,
One’s laughter but an upstart’s noise;
To calls of thought, the worlds arise and bend,
And Love is mute, and every Voice.
Srinivas S is an Assistant Professor at the Department of English, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai.
I can see that the author had a lot of fun with words and forms. Play, the great hallmark of a great poem, makes itself evident to the reader. I had fun reading this. Thank you!