I am introducing a different poetry form to you SkyPippers today, the Decuain.
As the name kind of implies, the Decuain is any ten line poem. (Dec=ten, as is “Decagon”, etc.)
In the case of the one I’ve written below, (perhaps the “traditional” Decuain) the poem has ten lines with ten syllables in each line.
The first lines of the poem are based on the featured photo, which is from a post card from here in my hometown.
There are three different rhyme schemes that can be used for a Decuain poem. They are
- ababbcbcaa,
- ababbcbcbb,
- ababbcdcaa,
or
- ababbcbccc
My example of a “traditional” Decuain poem (a poem with ten lines, each having ten syllables) is below. I chose to use the third rhyme scheme of ababbcdcaa .
~*~
The bridge spans out over the river
As the sun goes down in the western sky
The fog rolls over the hills, I shiver;
And so, another long day has gone by.
Tomorrow, to accomplish more I’ll try.
Lord, please help me to do that which I need
To do today, so that I might please You;
Help me to go forth and plant the Truth’s seed
So that the hearts of sinful men quiver
Hearing from Hell only You deliver.
© Stacey Uffelman 10/12/15
~*~
As I wrote above, the beginning lines of this poem were inspired by the picture on a postcard. Afterward, it went off on a different path. 🙂
Poetry can be inspired by a lot of things.
If you’re a poet, when you write, do you find that your poems often “go their own way”, whether you have mapped out a “direction” for them to go or not? Are you always able to keep your poems on the path you originally set them on?