time and once upon ago Euphrosyne’s amber tresses flowed on wisps of autumn’s frosted breath
dear Aglaia, the tall and slim in elegance, slow danced with wind cloud-kissed, her raiment golden flecked
and Thalia, sweet Thalia blushed bright her supple shallow roots held tight as fledglings flitted from their summer nests
yes time and once upon ago from seed to sprout these beauties showed resilience when the tempests raged they met each season shift with grace flowered, fruited, shed their seed the most magnificent of trees and lovely still, though worn with age if they could speak what might they say?
embrace each season of this life dwell on the good, let go the strife time steals away before you know so learn to bend when fierce winds blow let your roots spread deep and wide reach to heaven’s North Star guide then soft surrender to the loam leave not a trace, but grace, come home
I feel it in my bones hours before the first drop when the sky floods gray and heavy, my knees scream my back aches and my hair becomes a web of straw clinging to my head…my thought process grows sluggish…and I think the very best I can manage is a nap, a very long nap in fact wake me up come spring when the rain is sweet and cool not this bone-chilling deluge that drenches fallen leaves grinding them into loam tree limbs overhead stripped bare, unable to shade the carnage below oh that it would snow, this season in between has lost its charm the letting go, the letting go… to death…I feel it in my bones
she dances a slow dance with death, barefoot, draped in purple, to music only she hears, whispers on wind tips, in and out from the shadows, balancing between dark and light, need and want, pieces of herself plucked from her core like the leaves of autumn called to sleep at the feet of their mother
she dances a slow dance with death, slipping deeper, deeper into the darkening night, eyes fading, heart jaded, breath growing shallow, voice silenced to a whimper, donned in purple darkened from tears long shed from wells gone dry praying for winter snow to gently wrap her in silence, where blessed sleep waits, that she might finally rest…that she might find peace
i can almost see the neighbors now their white-washed porch and blue metal roof, the brown-white marbled coats of their horses grazing along the perimeter, just beyond the thinning tree barrier between us trees still green with life, slowly fading, tip tops aglow in shades of amber and rust empty nests teetering like bristly blobs in the wind, nestled in nooks high above the bustle below at long last, autumn has settled in for a spell season of bonfires, apple cider, pumpkin spice, sweaters season of letting go, of gleaning what we’ve sown and offering what’s left back to the earth and sky I can see the neighbors now as the air grows chill as winter looms close and days grow dark as the veil grows thinner…thinner still it’s comforting you know, to remember that I am not…that we are never truly alone i see you…i see you
too soon she blushes midsummer flush in a rush, longing for autumn
~kat
Cinqku
The “cinqku” is a new Tanka analogue; a seventeen syllable cinquain that assimilates as much as possible from the Japanese haiku and Tanka traditions into the English poetic tradition.
Form Type: Syllabic Origins: American Creator: Denis M. Garrison Number of Lines: 5 Rhyme Scheme: Not Applicable Meter: Not applicable
Rules 1. A strict syllable count (2,3,4,6,2) making 17 syllables on 5 lines
2. No title
3. Tanka style free diction and syntax
4. No metrical requirements
5. A turn that may be similar to kireji or a cinquain turn.
Cinqku’s can be linked. A linked sequence may have a title.
So it is easier for you to find all the parts/chapters of my ongoing fiction series, I created a new page that lists all the links. You can check it out HERE!
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kat Myrman and Like Mercury Colliding with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.