February 2024 Paper Poetry
And a Little Child Shall Lead Them
An interlocking rubaiyat poem
We danced to dizzying heights of ardor To love’s symphony in all its splendor With abandon, which caused us to be blind To the future cost of our surrender
From diverse worlds, we weren’t two of a kind But our souls met and could not be confined By conforming to society’s will We tossed caution and let our true love shine
We prepared for the hatred that would spill From the derisive stares meant to instill Fear to make us disappear and move on But our love held strong and on love we built
Our family grew to include two sons Happy little boys proved hearts could be won Our neighbors accepted us one by one And the children will lead us one by one
Ancient writings of the Jewish tradition, shared by Christian communities, record a verse within the book of Isaiah that promises a peaceable existence with the phrase, “And a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6). The passage paints the picture of a transformed community with a toddler playing at the center. It’s a place where former adversaries get along….Our hope for the future includes neighborhoods where our children and youth are safe and play freely. The well-being of the community is best measured by the thriving of the child. Children’s Defense Fund Blog, September 29, 2023
I wrote this poem in response to the Paper Poetry prompt for February. I chose to focus on Track A: “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love” ~ Sophocles. My poem is a story of interracial love, which comes with challenges in some cultures and regions more than others. However, it is often the children of these unions who bring healing to families and communities. As I wrote the poem, the verse from Isaiah, “and a little child shall lead them,” came to mind.
A note on the poetic form:
Here are the rules of the interlocking rubaiyat: The poem is comprised of quatrains following an aaba rhyme pattern. Each successive quatrain picks up the unrhymed line as the rhyme for that stanza. So a three-stanza rubaiyat might rhyme so: aaba/bbcb/ccdc. Sometimes, the final stanza rhymes all four lines. Lines are usually tetrameter and pentameter. Robert Lee Brewer, Writer’s Digest, January 7, 2016
It is not unusual for me to show up late for the party, and I know I am slipping in at the last minute to respond to the February prompt. If you would like to respond, you’ve got a few more days! Here is the link with the prompts.