Engagement Sestina

Vonita

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In the morning hours, the shrill ring
Of birds chirping woke me that day
Many years ago, and I wondered what might be in store
For me. I could feel a quickening love
In my heart so without delay I rose
Up from my warm and comforting bed.

Hastily I threw back the crumpled bed
Covers noticing the marks of a ring
Of water around my crystal rose
Vase where it had been spilt the previous day.
I waited for my partner love
To arrive with a gigantic store

Of fresh lilies from the flower store
As every morning I place freshly cut blooms on our bed-
Side table – to find out that romantic love
Was in the air, as fresh as a ring
Of jasmine scenting the early day.
My heart skipped beats as I was handed a delicate red rose

As my partner bent on one knee, taking me by surprise. After he rose
Up he led me to the jewelry store.
It turned out to be our engagement Day!
We had a lunch of a salad bed
Garnished with a fresh ring
Of condiments as we celebrated our Love.

For ours was no ordinary love
As the most beautiful rose
Could testify, with an engagement ring
To seal the grace held in store
For the rest of our lives and when I went to bed
That night I felt it had been the most perfect day.

A few weeks later, on my wedding Day
A celebration usually reserved for love
We stood near a well-tended garden bed
Of the most beautiful scented rose
Trees and looked forward to a store
Of love and exchanged a wedding ring.

We savored wines the colour of deep rose
And as we embarked on a lifetime in store
For us we listened to the church bells ring

This is an attempt of a sestina inspired by Sam of Another Voice
She explains the structure in her post:
https://tokillamimingbird.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/sestina-the-surprise-of-a-lifetime/

It might be my one and only sestina ever

26 thoughts on “Engagement Sestina”

    1. Yes, Sam is exploring all different forms of poetry that I have never heard of or tried, so I am learning from her 🙂 though in the process I am discovering that I prefer to write free verse than structured poetry, apart from haiku, which is my favorite form of poetry!

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  2. A beautiful description Vee and all managed in a sestina. It’s difficult to get such lucid flow of events in this form without tripping over the same thought. Well done!
    Why one and only sestina? 😉

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    1. It was too hard to be repeated! (I only gave birth once, I opted for a C-section the second time around lol) I’m still bothered about the “gigantic store of lillies”, but couldn’t think of another use of the word store, so that will have to do for now! I love reading all your posts and the different forms. Might still look at the villanelle but won’t post it (imagine – Another Post inspired by Another Voice, that’s a bit overkill!)

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      1. “It was too hard to be repeated! (I only gave birth once, I opted for a C-section the second time around lol)” – Hahaha! You’re too funny! 😀
        I always take it as a compliment but maybe your readers will start to wonder who this crazy Sam is with all these crazy forms.
        We are moving now to free verse so let’s see how that works. I haven’t formally written free verse if you know what I mean.

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      2. Yes, I haven’t formally written any poetry at all lol 🙂 I’m publishing my book *before* I do any formal training, because once I learn more, I will see all my poetry is totally wrong and will never publish it 🙂

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    1. Hi B, I missed this comment, so glad I noticed it now! Thank you for your comment. The format of a sestina is really tricky and basically goes like this:
      “The form requires 39 lines divided into 6 six-line stanzas and 1 three-line Envoy. Every line in the Sestina has a precise word ending. The order of the word-endings in each stanza are: 123456 615243 364125 532614 451362 246531 531/135” (I quoted this from the link listed on my post).
      I wrote one as a challenge, but it is not the reason why I write poetry, so doubt I will ever try it again. But at least I can say I have written one! 🙂

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