Before the Rain: Tritina Challenge

 

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The sun rises, the horizon a crimson flame–

red sky in morning, tonight comes the rain.

Yet still the robins sing, in tree branches lifting

 

skyward, boughs and birdsong, lifting,

shifting as the sun’s rays flame

the world in gold before the rain.

 

And in these hours, before the rain,

when eyes and voices are lifting,

down below the daffodils burst alive and flame–

 

and robins hop amidst the flame of flowers, lifting, winging, before the rain.

 

This is a tritina for Jane Dougherty’s Poetry Challenge. She asked us to choose three words from a poem by Francis Ledwidge.  I chose flame, rain, and lifting. I might be having a having a hard time concentrating on forms, but I also think this is a difficult form—for me, at least.

 

31 thoughts on “Before the Rain: Tritina Challenge

  1. It’s lovely, and it doesn’t sound as though it gave you any trouble at all. Very much in the spirit of Ledwidge’s poetry. I love ‘as the sun’s rays flame the world in gold before the rain.’

  2. I spent some time trying to understand just how a tritina worked (coz, you do that to me, Merril). It all became clear when I read this lovely poem that – OK, I’m no expert – but didn’t feel forced at all…

    Wonderful!

  3. Pingback: Words and pictures poetry challenge 2 – Jane Dougherty Writes

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