don't rinse but rePeat

is for Pantoum

The pantoum is an Eastern form, it is originally from Malaysia, introduced to the West by Victor Hugo and William Marsden in the first half of the 19^th century. 

The rules are simple but the form is hard.  Quatrains are written to the interlocked rhyme scheme of abab.  There are no limits on the number of stanzas.  The first and third lines from the previous stanza must be repeated in their entirety to form the second and fourth line of the subsequent one.  The end stanza must link back to the first one.  

Like most eastern forms, pantoum too specifies the number of syllables in a line, which is a strict 8 for each, a pretty tight allowance. It also specifies the stresses for the ending syllables. That horrendously complicated unstressed/stressed rule I have merrily ignored, I refuse to stress over the stresses. The way syllables are counted in Malay is way different from English anyway.

Here is my pantoum:

The Girl without a Pearl Earring

She left one single stud of emerald.

I found it in the folds of sheet and pillow.

She was in some hurry to leave my world.

Many other earths, where men come and go.

She took her darkened lovesharp things although

she left one single stud of emerald;

and just as lovesharp with the same rich glow.

She was in some hurry to leave my world

No answers only wine and questions mulled.

She took her darkened lovesharp things although

what I gave her was also silver pearled,

and just as lovesharp with the same rich glow.

The quiet days and years pass by on tiptoe,

no answers only wine and questions mulled;

I do not know the answers, only sorrow -

what I gave her was also silver pearled.

I still hold her earring not one shade dulled;

the quiet days and years pass by on tiptoe.

Has my silver with her been often handled?

I do not know the answers, only sorrow.

I found it in the folds of sheet and pillow;

I still hold her earring not one shade dulled.

Many other earths, where men come and go.

Has my silver with her been often handled?

Somehow this verse form reminded me of knitting patterns.  K1 P2 K5 blah blah blah repeat till end, repeat row 2 from previous pattern A, and all that.  Yeah, I know.  Insane, the way synapses spark.   I haven't knitted for a while now, must dig out the needles.  Do you knit, and if yes, did it remind you of knitting by any chance?

That's another new form I have learnt this A-Z, by the way.  The pantoum requires that every line be repeated somewhere in the poem.  Truly a hard write.  Phew!

Posted for the A-Z Challenge.