(a Kyrielle)
Conflicts dwelling about in legions.
Unclarified thoughts harming unions.
Wrenching status quo--randy aberrants.
Who would stop these indurate rants?
Friends are fleeing friend-ship's delight,
Eating sorrow in solitude's light,
Protesting in their minds with chants;
Who would stop these indurate rants?
Emotional feud now an ideal
For ears have chewed the sham pill.
The result is the body that pants--
Who would stop these indurate rants?
Would we all sit like kings, crosslegged?
Sipping the ambience that's gagged,
Blubbering in thick jumbo pants;
Who would stop these indurate rants?
The name "kyrielle" is derived from Kýrie, which is part of many Christian liturgies, but it originated with the medieval French troubadour. It consists of a series of couplets written in the form of quatrains and contains a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the poem consists of only eight syllables. Traditionally, it often contained the phrase "Lord, have mercy" (or a variant) as a refrain as the second line of the couplet or last line of the quatrain, though in this example it is an unstated but underlying message. Each line consists of only eight syllables. The poem should have at least three stanzas.
ReplyDeleteHere is a well-known example by Thomas Campion:
A Lenten Hymn
With broken heart and contrite sigh,
A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry:
Thy pard’ning grace is rich and free:
O God, be merciful to me.
I smite upon my troubled breast,
With deep and conscious guilt oppress,
Christ and His cross my only plea:
O God, be merciful to me.
Far off I stand with tearful eyes,
Nor dare uplift them to the skies;
But Thou dost all my anguish see:
O God, be merciful to me.
Nor alms, nor deeds that I have done,
Can for a single sin atone;
To Calvary alone I flee:
O God, be merciful to me.
And when, redeemed from sin and hell,
With all the ransomed throng I dwell,
My raptured song shall ever be,
God has been merciful to me.