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Uncommon poetic forms: a Dizain

Shifting, remaking, old clay into new, bitter reward, all the arguments won, shapes unimagined, this world without you. Your loss left me broken, splintered, undone. Still, I’m so grateful, for your gift: Our son. Don’t know how anyone does this, alone; try to keep busy, my heart like a stone. With one last breath, you flew off and away — dreaded departure, for districts unknown. Oh, how I wish you’d been able to stay.

Elizabeth Barnesco / August, 2021

DIZAIN-

The dizain was a favorite of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century French poets, but it has also been employed in English by the likes of Philip Sidney and John Keats. Here are the basic rules:

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

So many thanks to Somsubhra Banerjee for this delectable prompt! I have only completed two so far, but this exercise has truly stretched my boundaries, and I am sure I will refer to it often for inspiration and guidance:

Here is my other effort — an Ottava Rima:

If you’d like to read more of my work, please visit my garden: