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 18^th 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 13^th-15^th 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