Updates have been lacking due to this past and current week being finals week/s. However, this morning I was looking for an old poem to read again and, searching for it on the blog, I realized that I never uploaded it. It must have been written during one of my long non-posting periods. In any case, it is a poem that I am currently feeling so I'll post it up now. Sometimes it is comforting to read something old that documents a place that can otherwise be hard to remember.
This one was written during the week in Israel. We were staying in a kibbutz named Nof Ginosar (not rhyming with Dinosaur, sorry Claire), translating roughly (if memory serves) to "The Prince's Garden", which I guess was an old name for the region. It was on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and the scene described below happened pretty much as transcribed. The guide had been telling us about Tiberius' history that day, but I have to credit Reez for the image of Tiberius at night as a rack of votive candles.
It has a sincerely strange rhyme-scheme, though it was quite a late hour so perhaps I wasn't trying for one. I should definitely try to write something in this or a similar scheme again though... for funzies. The scheme is: abbc abbc deeffg
It is also written roughly in dactylic trimeter (ending regularly with an extra stressed syllable), with a few lines starting with an extra unstressed syllable.
"The Window of Nof Ginosar" -3/12/07
The Lord woke me up at a quarter-to-five,
Calling from outside the window to me,
Speaking of faith and of storms on the sea,
And Christ in the sailboat, appearing to sleep.
Then I, for an hour, proceeded to strive,
Struggling to learn of this great mystery,
Thinking of faith like the storms on the sea:
A faith that’s unmoved as the Galilee Deep.
Oh distant Tiberius, built on the dead,
Can branches still grow from the root that you hide?
Burning like candles across the far side
And drawing my eyes to the twinkling span:
A lake bearing footprints of God and of Man.
Oh votive Tiberius, pray for us.
"We gotta make a decision: we leave tonight or live and die this way."
-L
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The rhythmic pattern is so not-Luke, but at the same time it's very easy to read. It's nice, but I miss your regular sonnets.
ReplyDeleteI have done dactyls before. In some ways, they seem more like a natural speaking cadence than iambs. It certainly gives a sing-song quality.
ReplyDeleteHopefully now that finals weeks are over, I may write more regular sonnets.
no, I really liked this one. I can really see the image of the votive candles, too.
ReplyDelete-liz