Poember November
Her Sweet Face Stole My Heart
An abhanga poem for Rosie
Her sweet face stole my heart It was love at first sight In the glare of daylight she changed my life
I looked into her eyes Felt a peace within me A dream or ecstasy? I had to ask
She held onto my gaze steady and all-knowing Our love-bond growing Pure chemistry
She lifted her front paw as if to say, “I’m yours. I have seen all your flaws We can fix them.”
I came to my senses Had I been in a trance or a stupor perchance? Maybe sunstroke!
She sat waiting for me head tilted to one side “No hurry. You decide,” she was saying.
I had made up my mind The moment I saw her and my heart was a-whir with devotion
“You are the one for me There aren’t any others,” I told her in whispers Your name’s Rosie.
© Carolyn Hastings 2022
This is the story of how our dog, Rosie, came into our lives. The I in the poem is actually my husband. I decided writing in third person, he, didn’t capture the emotion the same way that first person, I, does.
I’ve written previously about this story. That piece, I Choose You, is a prose poem. This time I’ve told the story in a form that originates from India — abhanga.
Abhanga Poetry
Traditionally, abhanga is a devotional poem ‘sung in praise of the Hindu god, Vitthal’ but, as is often the case when English language gets in on the act it’s an anything-goes-free-for-all!
I dug around in Medium and came across Rachel B. Baxter’s abhanga prompt from April 2017! Rachel describes the form as follows –
The stanzas in an abhanga poem are quatrains, so they each have four lines. The syllable counts for the lines are 6 in the first, 6 in the second, 6 in the third, and 4 in the fourth. Lines 2 and 3 rhyme with each other and lines 1 and 4 are unrhymed.
For example: The library is where I found a special book, So glad I took a look, That rainy day.
Who said writing prompts ever close?! Five years on, it’s still good! ✨
And how’s this for serendipity?
Rachel called her prompt, Awakening Abhanga and now I’m reawakening her prompt!! 😊
Who else wants to give abhanga a wake-up call?
I know Selma has already. She wrote an elegy abhanga in July following Shinzo Abe’s assassination —
More Serendipity
How serendipitous is this?
Last night, I saw in my notifications that Ben Ulansey has started following me. I had no idea who Ben was so I clicked on his profile to have a look.
My practice is to bypass pinned posts and scroll down until I find a recently published post that looks promising. Sure enough I found one, then another.
Ben hadn’t written poetry but he’d written the most touching stories about his relationship with his dog, Boo.
After having just finished writing my Rosie poem, I couldn’t help but think there’s more to serendipity than being a word that feels good when you say it. Thank you, Ben. Thank you, Medium. Thank you, Serendipity. 🙏 💞
Here are Ben’s Boo stories —
I’m sneaking this piece into Paper Poetry’s Poember November month-long prompt. The prompt officially closes in a few hours but as with Rachel’s Awakening Abhanga prompt, there’s always the unofficial endless option. 😄
Thank you all for reading. 🙏 💕
✨ If you like what you’ve read, please consider — 👉 Subscribing to my email list 📩 👉 Becoming a Medium member using my affiliate referral link ✨
