
My nights are glimmers, like the stars
I almost see behind the haze
of misted air—reflected dark–
a shadow of what? I cannot say
for certain what bewitched my mind
and held it captive in the sky
outside my window—its edges shine
like invisible wings that silent, fly
between the fragments of absent dreams,
beyond the capacity of words–
I sail on sheet-tossed restless seas
awaiting dawn–the songs of birds

Laura at dVerse asked us to write an alternate rhyme poem–3 stanzas of 4 lines each–borrowing alternate rhyme pairs from a published poem and using them in the order in which they appeared in the original poem. A cursory look provided no inspiration from other poets, so I looked at the sonnets I had written and found three that were appropriately rhymed.
I chose the first 12 lines from my sonnet “Purple Dreams”–itself inspired by the song lyrics of Prince–because how could I resist a final word list that began with stars and ended in birds?
conjuring some magic and mystery of the night here -love the way you broke the rhythm as it mirrors the glimmer of stars too. Memorable lines these:
“I almost see behind the haze
of misted air—reflected dark–”
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Thanks Laura. The night sky is always good inspiration.
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A stunning alternate rhyme poem, Kerfe, and, if we have a prompt like this again, I would love to borrow your word list! I tried and almost failed to read correctly your deliciously sibilant line: ‘I sail on sheet-tossed restless seas’.
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Thanks Kim. Feel free!
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The expectation of dawn even in restless dream is remarkable.
Thanks for dropping by my blog.
Much💖love
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Thanks Gillena, dawn hasn’t let us down yet.
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Ripples of Prince that live on in perpetuity. Beautiful poem based on the lyrics of a beautiful human being.
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Thanks Jade. Of course I had to listen to Purple Rain…
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You’re welcome, and of course 🙂
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I really love the restlessness and the sort of exotic night feeling that this poem has for me.
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Thanks Claudia. Night can be very exotic, now that you mention it.
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between the fragments of absent dreams,
beyond the capacity of words–
I sail on sheet-tossed restless seas
awaiting dawn–the songs of birds
✨
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Thanks Melissa. Night is a mysterious place.
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I’ve always been a night owl. I like it there.✨
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I love the idea of absent dreams. What a wonderful perspective that opens up!
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I wonder if there is a place where they are stored, waiting to be found.
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That’s a thought. Or do they get dreamed by somebody else,
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Also a possibility.
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Great word-choice and work on the form, Kerfe!
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Thanks Ingrid. I was please to have a poem I had written with such good end words.
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