Ae Freslighe poetry form

Ae Freslighe
An Irish form that dates back to at least the time of Saint Patrick, Ae Freslighe is a quatrain of seven syllables per line, and tells a story within no more than four stanzas. Properly, it rhymes abab cdcd efef etc. All rhymes are feminine rhymes, odd line rhymes ending with words of three syllables and even lines ending with words of two syllables. Ideally, the last word should be the same as the first, although some examples of only the last syllable same are extant. Alternately, when writing more than one stanza, the last line may repeat the first, which would alter the last stanza’s rhyme scheme to eaea.
Please note the syllable count shows that odd lines end in three syllables, even lines in two.
xxxx(xxa) xxxxx(xb) xxxx(xxa) xxxxx(xb)

Pasted from <http://the.a.b.c.of.poetry.styles.patthepoet.com/index.html>

My example

machu-picchu-late-afternoon

Macho Picchu (Ae Freslighe)

Treasures are worth defending;
(it’s best if they’re kept hidden.)
The artisans descending
had done what they were bidden.

The clouds closely hovering –
so full of rain were loaded;
men terraced a covering
that still is not outmoded.

Invaders were defacing
by crude and ugly measures
just taking, not replacing
Thank God they missed these treasures.

© Lawrencealot – October 3, 2014

Visual Template

Ae Freslighe

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