All Souls

I hear them through the chilling autumn mist,
the muffled footsteps of returning souls;
their heralds are the jackdaws and the crows.

Before the sodden churchyard has been kissed
by daylight skipping in between headstones,
I hear them through the chilling autumn mist,
the muffled footsteps of returning souls.

The scarlet red of poppies will persist,
although the blooms of summer are long gone,
remembrance laid in wreaths among the bones.
I hear them through the chilling autumn mist,
the muffled footsteps of returning souls;
their heralds are the jackdaws and the crows.

Kim M. Russell, 11th November 2025

Image by Simon Godfrey on Unsplash

This Thursday at the dVerse Poets Pub we are meeting the bar with Laura and circling back the Chaucerian way.

Laura says that ‘we have come round again to some sombre times as with the recent All Souls Day, commemorating the departed…it’s also a time when we stand in silent respect and remembrance of all those who perished in both world wars’.  She has given us examples in extracts from two stunning poems, ‘Lost in the Milky Way’ by Linda Hogan, Vera Brittain’s ‘Roundel’ and Algernon Swinburne’s ‘The Roundel’.

Laura reminds us that we owe the Roundel form to Chaucer and distinguish the Chaucerian Roundel from all other forms; it’s the form she has chosen for our poems today. We are writing in 13 lines of iambic pentameter made up of three stanzas: one tercet, one quatrain and a sestet. The rhyme scheme is A B1 B2 / a b A B1 / a b b A B1 B2; once we have the first 3 lines, it circles back in two refrains! Laura has also given us some useful links with examples.

26 thoughts on “All Souls”

  5. “The scarlet red of poppies will persist,
    although the blooms of summer are long gone,
    remembrance laid in wreaths among the bones”

    such a pitiful rondel!

    much♡love

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. A beautifully crafted tribute to the fallen, Kim. My first experience of Remembrance Day, was my mother’s tears during the service, (she served in WWII and I wrote about it before), but as time goes on and my understanding of history deepens, I find it increasingly difficult to stomach the waste of lives in mostly pointless wars (WWI especially – WWII against Fascism not so much)…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. “the scarlet red of poppies will persist” ~~ the art you shared, guaranteed to resonate long after this beautiful roundel is read. Perfectly composed, Kim.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  13. Pingback: Listen to their song | Björn Rudbergs writings

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.