This form combining
the rhyming pattern of an interrupted Petrachan Sonnet, with the breathing cadence of common meter may have somewhere
been used before, but it was definitely used and captured for us by Algernon Charles
Swinburne in his "A Ballad of Death".
I merely record it
here and give it a name by which we can refer as we attempt to write such poems
of our own.
It is stanzaic,
consisting of any number of stanzas.
It is Syllabic: 10/10/6/10/10/10/6/10/10/10
It is Rhymed: abbacdecde
It is composed in
iambic meter.
Example Poem
Cultural
Patrimony (Swinburne Decastitch)
When any culture
deems it right to maul
and kill, inflicting
pain, can you explain
away my great
disdain?
Can you excuse the
citizens and all
who legislate and
rule who use as tool
the very worst
impulses of man's mind?
Against such things
let's rail!
We simply cannot
fool ourselves- it's cruel
to torment any
species that we find.
With that in mind
I'd like to tell this tale.
Young boys are often
wooed by danger's taunt
and while still
teens endeavor to learn skills
to please the crowds
with thrills.
'Tis machismo alone that these boys flaunt,
and doubtlessly they
want to earn the fame
accruing to the
greatest in this "sport"
so fam'lies can be
proud.
And many boys who
play this dangerous game
will end up lame or
have their life cut short
where death and
torture's commonly allowed.
In training some are
killed or truly maimed.
and never set their
feet into bull's ring.
This is an honored
thing!
But culture failing
still persists unnamed,
where people think
this cost perhaps is small;
and small it well
may be when men have learned
compassion has no
role.
If humankind is not
herewith appalled
by acts dispensing
pain where it's unearned
each man accepts
canker on his soul.
When man pits bull
against a lion foe,
again to entertain
and titillate,
we each should fee
self-hate.
The gladiator games
we must outgrow,
like burning ants
and pulling off fly's wings.
Each species may do
harsh things to survive.
But evil has its
cost.
When man accepts
it's right to torture things
which share our
space and roam our earth alive,
compassion for all
life will soon be lost.
© Lawrencealot -
April 13, 2014
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