January 2024 Paper Poetry

Beginning of the Ending

A dizain

At an unknown age in each person’s life, time’s hot air balloon starts its slow descent. You’re on top of the world, high as a kite - blissful, heedless, no sign of malcontent, unaware gravity’s pull won’t relent. Gravity and time are partners in crime who assault the body at its peak prime, the descent so slow it goes undetected, until one day when the closing bell chimes. No beginnings left to be projected.

A note about poetic form:

The form of the dizain is from the French tradition, popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. The basic rules, as outlined by Robert Lee Brewer, are as follows —

One 10-line stanza 10 syllables per line Employs the following rhyme scheme: ababbccdcd

I wrote this poem in response to the prompt issued by Indubala Kachhawa in Paper Poetry. I chose Track B of the prompt, which Indubala describes:

Track B — being pensive about the past, feeling sad about the time/memories, people slipping by from us, the beginnings which compel us to move on when we just want to dwell and reminisce, of the times bygone. In short, the clock is ticking but our hearts are in the past.

Find a complete description of the prompt here:

I’d like to encourage Benighted, Toni The Talker, and Anna V to share your talents with the Paper Poetry community by responding to this prompt.

🍀💚🍀