Friday 17 August 2012

Strange Comfort

There is a sad strange comfort here
Drowning sorrows in sweet red wine.
We raise our glass and feign good cheer,
Sad little ladies of the vine.
Sad little stories intertwine
As secret longings we confess,
Our secret pain we do consign,
Drinking to drown our loneliness.

Anna :o]

Hah, an end to writers block, thanks to Gemma Wiseman at dVerse~Poets Pub!  Today is Form for All and the form is that of the Huitain.  Gemma writes:

There are those who claim that the huitain is French in origin, and others who are adamant it has Spanish origins. Either way, it was popular in the 15th and early 16th centuries and was often used for epigrams in the 18th century.  The form evolves around the number eight.

In France, the huitain was closely associated with the ballade which comprised three eight line stanzas, with the last line being a refrain. The ballade was set to music during the 13th-15th centuries.  But the huitain dismissed the refrain element and the music.

The original huitain is a single verse, eight line poem with eight syllables per line. The rhyme scheme is:
a
b
a
b
b
c
b
c


Cheers Gemma and also to the wise man who unknowingly was the inspiration for the words of this poem.

Image: courtesy of Wikimedia Creative Commons Red Wine Glass by André Karwath aka Aka

31 comments:

Beachanny said...

Beautiful and well said. I love how you built those to middle lines with the repetition of "sad little" starting both..it gives it a central anchor and an echo of the overall theme. Really a brilliant addition to the form! First rate!!

Brian Miller said...

smiles...nice...def like the emphasis ay pointed out....like the emotion you get out of the loneliness in the end too...even when they are together sharing the stories....

Laurie Kolp said...

Glad you are back!

Daydreamertoo said...

Ahh... glad you're back and on good form too :)
Red, red wine... You did this really well.

Anonymous said...

A very emotional write, it's amazing how alone we can be in company... you did a great job with the form!

PattiKen said...

This is just perfect. It really touched me.

Claudia said...

strange comfort indeed...very good title and so much emotions in this...

Cressida de Nova said...

Very pleasing huitain about drowning the sorrows.

John (@bookdreamer) said...

Sad litte snatch of a life

Dominic Rivron said...

Really good, that. Isn't it a wonderful moment when you discover you've made what you want to say fit a form you had in mind for it?

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thank you for your kind and welcome comments folks.

Dominic ~ suffering a bit of writers block lately and becoming quite apathetic about it. I had started 'the poem' a while ago, freestyle, and came up against a brick wall...

I don't really write to form, but to drag myself from my happy inertia, I thought 'I'll have a go at this' and am so glad I did.

Anna :o]

drerhumu said...

Great! Thought I was the only one who caught the writers block flu. Good to have you back. You've inspired me to study various forms of poetry, hope that will give me more material to work on.

Anonymous said...

Very well written - like a little song in a way = the ballad of the sweet red wine. I'm thinking Lambrusco. k.

Anonymous said...

PS- any port in a storm. k.

kaykuala said...

A huitain to give way to feelings of sadness and so find solace. Nice write Anna!

Hank

Day Dreamer said...

A very apt description I'd say! Very well written and great view on the prompt!

Bodhirose said...

Yes...it is a strange comfort. Enjoyed this very much, Anna. I've found, when I'm not inspired to write, that sometimes trying a form can unhinge my creative flow.. I'm glad it helped you.

Maude Lynn said...

Beautiful work! I love "sad little ladies of the vine."

Unknown said...

cool. Somewhat in a similar vein to the piece I did, but your's just comes out so, so naturally, as if created out from within a conversational type chat. Awesome job. Thanks

ayala said...

:) Nicely done..glad you are back :)

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thank you lovely people for your kind commets.

Anna :o]

Anonymous said...

So nicely done- and a difficult to sentiment to fit so eloquently within this form...but you managed it and then some- really like the tone in this- that hidden feeling of feigning emotion when there is an underlying sadness that the wine is trying to squash....v v good

brenda w said...

I love this one... and am glad I don't drink in this manner. LoL We love a glass of good red wine at my house. ;)

Luke Prater said...

Excellent Huitain! The oxymoronic 'sorrows in sweet' is a nice touch

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Anna .. what a beautiful hutain - a form I didn't know about .. always interesting to find out new things ..

The thought of sad little ladies intertwining their sad stories in the vine ... glad it's still summer!

Cheers and have a good week - Hilary

Dave King said...

A really beautiful fulfillment of the prompt. Very moving, in its use of the form as well as content.

J Cosmo Newbery said...

Forget the huitain, pass the wine!

Ok, Ok, it was good.

Now, pass the wine.

Friko said...

Cheers from one sad little old lady to another?

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thank you for your welcome comments folks, and Friko, well I'll leave you guessing...

Anna :o]

Little Nell said...

Oh I liked this Anna, and thank you for introducing me to yet another new form. I must admit I like the extra challenge of writing to a form and found the florette I tried this week really helped crystalise my thoughts. I'll be adding a hutain to my 'to do' list!

Dick Jones said...

A sad tale, well told within the form.