Memory’s Drift

Its leafy dome makes me think of you,
the way you leaned against the willow tree,
gazed through branches at a patch of blue -
I knew I’d love you endlessly.

In darkest shadows I begin to drift,
aching for that happy summertime;
now memory with ageing starts to shift,
and poetry no longer rhymes.

I long for sun-filled days of youthful bliss,
(but we flew into our future free as birds),
the time when all our mouths could do was kiss - 
we never had a need for words.

Kim M. Russell, 4th May 2023

It’s Thursday and time to Meet the Bar at the dVerse Poets Pub with Laura and a four-line alternate rhyme scheme.

Laura has shared examples of ABAB etc. poems by Keats, Edna St Millay and Marion Strobel to help us with today’s challenge: to write alternate rhyme poems of at least 3 stanzas, in which the rhyme scheme is ABAB; CDCD; EFEF etc. and the end rhyme pairs have been borrowed from a published poem in the order in which they were written.

Laura says that there is no strict ruling on meter but we should avoid the tum-te-tum rhythm by using irregularities such as different line lengths and breaks within lines, as in the examples. She also suggests two poetry styles which follow the ABAB rhyme scheme: Ae Freslighe or The Russell. I thought I’d give my namesake a go and borrow the end lines from the quatrains of one of my favourite poets, Carol Ann Duffy’s sonnet ‘Rapture’.

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24 thoughts on “Memory’s Drift”

  1. I love the poignancy with which this poem is penned, Kim 😍 especially admire; “the way you leaned against the willow tree, gazed through branches at a patch of blue.” 💙💙

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. “I long for sun-filled days of youthful bliss,”
    To grow old with good memories is a charm.

    Thanks for dropping by my blog.

    Much💖love

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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