Tag Archives: PoetName

The O'Shaughnessy

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• The O’Shaughnessy

is a verse form patterned after a single stanza in “Ode” by Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy (1844-1881).

The O’Shaughnessy is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of octaves.
○ metered, sprung rhythm, alternating trimeter and tetrameter lines. The odd number lines are trimeter and the even number lines are tetrameter.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme abababab. The odd numbered lines are feminine rhyme and the even numbered lines are masculine rhyme.

Ode by Arthur O’Shaughnessy
WE are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world’s great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire’s glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song’s measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o’erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668
My thanks to Judi Van Gorden for creating the fine resource at PMO.
Sprung rhythm is a poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech. It is constructed from feet in which the first syllable is stressed and may be followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables.[1] The British poet Gerard Manley Hopkins claimed to have discovered this previously unnamed poetic rhythm in the natural patterns ofEnglish in folk songs, spoken poetry, Shakespeare, Milton, et al. He used diacritical marks on syllables to indicate which should be drawn out (acute e.g. á ) and which uttered quickly (grave, e.g., è).
Some critics believe he merely coined a name for poems with mixed, irregular feet, like free verse. However, while sprung rhythm allows for an indeterminate number of syllables to a foot, Hopkins was very careful to keep the number of feet he had per line consistent across each individual work, a trait that free verse does not share. Sprung rhythm may be classed as a form of accentual verse, due to its being stress-timed, rather than syllable-timed,[2] and while sprung rhythm did not become a popular literary form, Hopkins’s advocacy did assist in a revival of accentual verse more generally.[3]
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprung_rhythm>
For a thoroughly technical treatise on Sprung Rhythm see:
http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/Papers/HayesAndMooreCantwell2011GerardManleyHopkins.pdf
Note: The Ode presented above does NOT comply with the specifications presented, in that the second stanza has a rhyme pattern of  a a b b a b a b.
My example poem:
In Transit

In Transit (The O’Shaughnessy)

She made my ride to work a pleasure
Although she dressed in casual clothes
She’d beat the rest by any measure.
When first I thought to speak I froze.
But transit-time provided leisure
and we both used it I suppose
to stoke romance we’ll always treasure
for on this night I shall propose.

(c) Lawrencealot = July 6, 2014

The Noyes

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• The Noyes is a stanzaic form using uneven short emphatic lines. It is named for English poet Alfred Noyes (1880-1958) patterned after his poem Art. Noyes is better known for The Highwayman.

The Noyes is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
○ metered, L1,L2,L4 are trimeter, L3 is monometer.
○ abab cdcd efeg ghgh.

Art by Alfred Noyes
I
Yes! Beauty still rebels!
Our dreams like clouds disperse:
She dwells
In agate, marble, verse.

No false constraint be thine!
But, for right walking, choose
The fine,
The strict cothurnus, Muse.
Vainly ye seek to escape
The toil! The yielding phrase
Ye shape
Is clay, not chrysoprase.
And all in vain ye scorn
That seeming ease which ne’er
Was born
Of aught but love and care.
Take up the sculptor’s tool!
Recall the gods that die
To rule
In Parian o’er the sky.
II
Poet, let passion sleep
Till with the cosmic rhyme
You keep
Eternal tone and time,
By rule of hour and flower,
By strength of stern restraint
And power
To fail and not to faint.
The task is hard to learn
While all the songs of Spring
Return
Along the blood and sing.
Yet hear—from her deep skies,
How Art, for all your pain,
Still cries
Ye must be born again!
Reject the wreath of rose,
Take up the crown of thorn
That shows
To-night a child is born.
The far immortal face
In chosen onyx fine
Enchase,
Delicate line by line.
Strive with Carrara, fight
With Parian, till there steal
To light
Apollo’s pure profile.
Set the great lucid form
Free from its marble tomb
To storm
The heights of death and doom.
Take up the sculptor’s tool!
Recall the gods that die
To rule
In Parian o’er the sky.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the years of work on the wonderful PMO resource.
My Example poem
Be Thus (The Noyes)
I think therefore I am
Rene DesCartes once wrote.
and damn,
I think he’s one to quote.
I’m sure of my belief,
as each of us should be,
Good grief!
…and it’s not fed to me.
I’ve paid some heavy dues
and learned along the way.
Excuse
me- I’ve much more to say.
Examine your own life
let none impose a veil
of strife.
All dogmas will grow stale.
Do I equivocate?
I very seldom do!
It’s late
but I’m not nearly through.
For seeking out what’s fun
that harms no other soul
when done
could well define your role.
Bring joy to all you meet
Don’t magnify your needs
Don’t cheat
then count on prayer beads.
Remember greed provides
no way to be content.
Besides,
it causes discontent.
Enjoy the grass, the trees,
the animals that roam;
and please
enjoy the gifts of home.
© Lawrencealot – July 6, 2014
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The Noyes

The Gilbert

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• The Gilbert is a verse form in which a theme reoccurs in different settings from stanza to stanza. It is named for William Schwenk Gilbert (1836-1911) of Gilbert and Sullivan fame, (operettas for which Gilbert provided the lyrics). The form is patterned after his poem The House of Peers.

The Gilbert is:
○ written in 3 septets.
○ metered, L1,L3,L4,L6,L7 are tetrameter , L2 and L5 are trimeter.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme xabbacc xdeedff etc. x being unrhymed.

The House of Peers by WS Gilbert
When Britain really ruled the waves –
In good Queen Bess’s time)
The House of Peers made no pretence
To intellectual eminence,
Or scholarship sublime;
Yet Britain won her proudest bays
In good Queen Bess’s glorious days!
When Wellington thrashed Bonaparte,
As every child can tell,
The House of Peers, throughout the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well;
Yet Britain set the world ablaze
In good King George’s glorious days!
And while the House of Peers withholds
Its legislative hand,
And noble statesmen do not itch
To interfere with matters which
[They do not understand,
As bright will shine Great Britain’s rays,
As in King George’s glorious days!
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for her years of effort in creating this fine PMO resource.

My example poem
The NBA Finals 2014 (The Gilbert)
When San Antonio had lost
one game to tie it up
some thought the Heat could now prevail
at home, and through the series sail.
LeBron, he just said “Yup.”
But then the Spurs began to mesh.
The bench produced to keep Tim Fresh.
With seventy-one first half points
the Spurs put on a show.
When “Pop” told Leonard, “take the game,
to them!”, he did so to acclaim.
and made Dwayne Wade look slow.
The three main stars became his cast;
and his defense kept James harassed.
When it was done, then anyone
who knew the game could see
the team denied their dream last year
had switched into their highest gear
B-ball as meant to be.
They polished up a show for fans.
There was no sitting on your hands.
© Lawrencealot – July 3, 2014
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The Gilbert

The Kipling

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• The Kipling is a stanzaic form that uses anapestic and iambic meter with internal rhyme. Named for Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) and patterned after his poem L’ Envoi.

The Kipling is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
○ metered, the odd numbered lines are hexameter, the even numbered lines are trimeter. The first metric foot of each line is an anapest followed by either 5 iambs or 2 iambs depending on the length of the line.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme aa-b-cc-b dd-e-ff-e etc. The odd numbered lines employ internal rhyme.

L’Envoi by Rudyard Kipling (1st stanza)

When Earth’s last picture is painted, and the tubes are twisted and dried
When the oldest colors have faded, and the youngest critic has died
We shall rest, and, faith we shall need it–lie down for an aeon or two,
‘Til the Master of All Good Workmen shall set us to work anew!

And those that were good will be happy: they shall sit in a golden chair;
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comet’s hair;
They shall find real saints to draw from–Magdalene, Peter and Paul;
They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all!

And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame;
And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame;
But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They Are!

Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668>
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on the great PMO resource. Her site points to the source for the listing of many forms named after English poets.  However the poem she references is not the correct one.

I am providing the real L’Envoi poem, with which the detailed specifications above do come fairly close.

L’Envoi
There’s a whisper down the field where the year has shot her yield,
And the ricks stand gray to the sun,
Singing: — “Over then, come over, for the bee has quit the clover,
And your English summer’s done.”
You have heard the beat of the off-shore wind,
And the thresh of the deep-sea rain;
You have heard the song — how long! how long?
Pull out on the trail again!

Ha’ done with the Tents of Shem, dear lass,
We’ve seen the seasons through,
And it’s time to turn on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
Pull out, pull out, on the Long Trail — the trail that is always new.

It’s North you may run to the rime-ringed sun,
Or South to the blind Horn’s hate;
Or East all the way into Mississippi Bay,
Or West to the Golden Gate;
Where the blindest bluffs hold good, dear lass,
And the wildest tales are true,
And the men bulk big on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
And life runs large on the Long Trail — the trail that is always new.

The days are sick and cold, and the skies are gray and old,
And the twice-breathed airs blow damp;
And I’d sell my tired soul for the bucking beam-sea roll
Of a black Bilbao tramp;
With her load-line over her hatch, dear lass,
And a drunken Dago crew,
And her nose held down on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail
From Cadiz Bar on the Long Trail — the trail that is always new.

There be triple ways to take, of the eagle or the snake,
Or the way of a man with a maid;
But the fairest way to me is a ship’s upon the sea
In the heel of the North-East Trade.
Can you hear the crash on her bows, dear lass,
And the drum of the racing screw,
As she ships it green on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
As she lifts and ‘scends on the Long Trail —
the trail that is always new?

See the shaking funnels roar, with the Peter at the fore,
And the fenders grind and heave,
And the derricks clack and grate, as the tackle hooks the crate,
And the fall-rope whines through the sheave;
It’s “Gang-plank up and in,” dear lass,
It’s “Hawsers warp her through!”
And it’s “All clear aft” on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
We’re backing down on the Long Trail — the trail that is always new.

O the mutter overside, when the port-fog holds us tied,
And the sirens hoot their dread!
When foot by foot we creep o’er the hueless viewless deep
To the sob of the questing lead!
It’s down by the Lower Hope, dear lass,
With the Gunfleet Sands in view,
Till the Mouse swings green on the old trail,
our own trail, the out trail,
And the Gull Light lifts on the Long Trail —
the trail that is always new.

O the blazing tropic night, when the wake’s a welt of light
That holds the hot sky tame,
And the steady fore-foot snores through the planet-powdered floors
Where the scared whale flukes in flame!
Her plates are scarred by the sun, dear lass,
And her ropes are taut with the dew,
For we’re booming down on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
We’re sagging south on the Long Trail — the trail that is always new.

Then home, get her home, where the drunken rollers comb,
And the shouting seas drive by,
And the engines stamp and ring, and the wet bows reel and swing,
And the Southern Cross rides high!
Yes, the old lost stars wheel back, dear lass,
That blaze in the velvet blue.
They’re all old friends on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
They’re God’s own guides on the Long Trail —
the trail that is always new.

Fly forward, O my heart, from the Foreland to the Start —
We’re steaming all-too slow,
And it’s twenty thousand mile to our little lazy isle
Where the trumpet-orchids blow!
You have heard the call of the off-shore wind,
And the voice of the deep-sea rain;
You have heard the song — how long! how long?
Pull out on the trail again!

The Lord knows what we may find, dear lass,
And The Deuce knows what we may do —
But we’re back once more on the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
We’re down, hull down on the Long Trail — the trail that is always new.
My example poem

Taxi Mommy (The Kipling)

When my mommy says “Let’s go!”, she means it, that I know
we don’t waste a minute then.
To the school, or to the doc, we’re driven by the clock
When it’s time we move, amen!

But when trips dictate that she must wait for dad or me
she’s okay, she holds her own;
while not bored or anxious yet, you can almost make bet
then she’s tapping her cell-phone.

© Lawrencealot – July 1, 2014
Visual Template

The Kipling

 

The Dowson

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• The Dowson is patterned after the poem They Are Not Long, the Weeping and the Laughing by English poet Ernest Dowson (1867-1900). It is this poem that coined the phrase, “the days of wine and roses.” Dowson died at the age of 32 a direct result of his alcoholism.

The Dowson is:
○ stanzaic, 2 quatrains.
○ metered, L1-L3 pentameter, L2 trimeter, L4 dimeter.
○ rhymed abab cdcd, L1-L3 of each stanza ends in feminine rhyme and L2-L4 is masculine rhyme.
They Are Not Long, The Weeping and the Laughing by Ernest Dowson

They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
Love and desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after
We pass the gate.
They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for awhile, then closes
Within a dream.
Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668>
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on the fine PMO resource.
*Note: Although is it not set forth above, I noticed that his poem has each line 2 beginning with a trochee, thus I formed my template below with that construct.
My example poem
Make Time Race (The Dowson)
Though time decays most everything it touches
we can and should have fun.
Though mountains crumble finally in time’s clutches,
We’re not yet done!
The wine and roses really matter, mister.
Life is, it seems, too short.
The thrill, the heat, the trembling when you kissed her.
Enjoy! Cavort!
© Larencealot – June 27, 2014
Visual template
The Dowson

The de Tabley

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• The de Tabley is a verse form patterned after Chorus from Medea by John Leicester Warren, Lord de Tabley (1835-1895). De Tabley’s poetry reflected his study of the classics and his passion for detail.

The de Tabley is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
○ metric, alternating iambic pentameter and iambic trimeter lines. L1 of each stanza begins with a trochee
○ rhymed, rhymed scheme abab cdcd etc.
Chorus from Medea by John Leicester Warren, Lord de Tabley
SWEET are the ways of death to weary feet,
Calm are the shades of men.
The phantom fears no tyrant in his seat,
The slave is master then.
Love is abolish’d; well, that this is so;
We knew him best as Pain.
The gods are all cast out, and let them go!
Who ever found them gain?
Ready to hurt and slow to succour these;
So, while thou breathest, pray.
But in the sepulchre all flesh has peace;
Their hand is put away.
Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668>
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the fine PMO resource.
My example poem
An Old Man’s Dog (The de Tably)
Fate had to play a part in bringing you
looking at pups that day.
Your wife thought it was something fun to do,
and thus you said okay.
Tiny, and still unsteady on my feet,
knowing we had a fit,
I curled up in your hand and felt complete.
How soon you did commit!
Less than a minute passed before we knew
we’d be each other’s pride.
The bond, so evident twixt me and you,
the kennel-master cried.
Never was I an incidental pet
Not just a thing or toy;
We taught each other and we’re learning yet,
thus multiplying joy.
Chewing on shoes is part of puppyhood
and I did spoil one pair.
You said, “Bad dog!” to me, then like you should
hid them from me somewhere.
Bad Dog! became a phrase without a smile
warning me to change my ways.
Those words I haven’t heard now for a while;
I try to earn your praise.
Likely I’ll live until you die my friend.
I’ll miss you every day
and dream of you each night until my end.
I hope it works that way.
Should I become so ill I cannot cope
please take me to the vet.
That in your arms I pass, remains my hope;
just give me one more pet.
© Lawrencealot – June 27, 2014
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The de Tabley

The Bridges

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• The Bridges is a stanzaic form with a formal tone created by the long and short lines and exact rhyme scheme. It is patterned after Nightingales by English poet Robert Bridges(1844-1930).
• The Bridges is:
○ stanzaic, written in any number of sixains.
○ metered, L1,L2, L4 of each stanza is iambic hexameter, L5 iambic pentameter and L3 and L6 are dimeter.
○ rhymed, rhyme scheme aabccb ddeffe etc.
Nightingales by Robert Bridges
BEAUTIFUL must be the mountains whence ye come,
[And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams, wherefrom
Ye learn your song:
Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there,
Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air
Bloom the year long!
Nay, barren are those mountains and spent the streams:
Our song is the voice of desire, that haunts our dreams,
A throe of the heart,
Whose pining visions dim, forbidden hopes profound,
No dying cadence nor long sigh can sound,
For all our art.
Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men
We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then,
As night is withdrawn
From these sweet-springing meads and bursting boughs of May,
Dream, while the innumerable choir of day
Welcome the dawn.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful PMO resoruce site.
Now my friends, do not try to fit the above poem to the template displayed below, unless for your own edification, because the poem does not conform to the specifications. And that is okay, for the text above states that it is PATTERNED AFTER, and that much is true.
What I could not find out is who did the patterning? No matter. We can now write The Bridges to these specifications:
Syllabic: 12/12/4/12/10/4
stanzaic, any number of sestets (6 line stanzas).
Rhyme scheme: aabccb ddeffe etc.
Metric: Iambic hexamter, iambic pentameter, iambic dimeter
My example poem
The Pregnant Bride (The Bridges)
“How are you feeling”? asked my doc , and I replied.
“I’m eighty-five and have a young and pregnant bride!”
I’m feeling great.”
She’s eighteen, beautiful, and gonna have my child.
It’s wonderful. I think that’s very wild!
I’m no light-weight.”
The doctor thought it over then made this retort,
“I knew an avid hunter once, a hearty sport.
who erred one day.
He grabbed an umbrella when reaching for his gun
and aimed it at a bear which had begun
to run his way.”
“He pulled the handle. Do you know what happened next?
The bear dropped dead in front of him!”- I was perplexed.
“That cannot be”,
I said, “Someone else must have shot that doggone bear.”
“Correct”, the doctor said, “I do declare
I see you see.”
© Lawrencealot – June 17, 2014
Visual Template
The Bridges

The Blunden

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The Blunden is named for the English World War I poet, Edmund Blunden (1896- 1933 or 1974??), a stanzaic form with variable meter patterned after his poem The Survival. Blunden unlike most “War Poets”, wrote about the loss of beauty in the war torn landscape of France. The easy rhythm of the form brings a kind of melancholy to the poem. This poem could almost be considered a débat. Two voices are heard, the mind’s need to cope versus the soul’s devastation at the mindless destruction.

The Blunden is:

  • metered, L1, L3, L4, L5 iambic tetrameter and L2, L6 iambic trimeter.
  • stanzaic, any number of sexains or sixains (6 line stanzas).
  • rhymed, rhyme scheme abccab deffde etc.
    The Survival by Edmund Blunden

To-day’s house makes to-morrow’s road;
I knew these heaps of stone
When they were walls of grace and might,
The country’s honour, art’s delight
That over fountain’d silence show’d
Fame’s final bastion.
Inheritance has found fresh work,
Disunion union breeds;
Beauty the strong, its difference lost,
Has matter fit for flood and frost.
Here’s the true blood that will not shirk
Life’s new-commanding needs.
With curious costly zeal, O man,
Raise orrery and ode;
How shines your tower, the only one
Of that especial site and stone!
And even the dream’s confusion can
Sustain to-morrow’s road.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668

My thanks ot Judi Van Gorder for the fine resource site above.
My example:

Wake Up (The Blunden)
A successor of Mohammed
that is a caliph’s claim.
Control and domination rules
(embraced by fanatics and fools)
Why would one grasp a burning thread
with slavery it’s aim?
Five thousand other dogmas give
adherents special hope.
All based on miracles and fraud
each claiming theirs is truly God.
But most will let opponents live.
Will truest Muslims?- Nope.
© Lawrencealot – June 17, 2014

Visual Template

Syllabic: 8/6/8/8/8/6

The Blunden

The Binyon

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The Binyon is an envelope verse form with refrain patterned after the poem O World, Be Nobler by 19th century English poet Laurence Binyon. Binyon is known as a World War I poet. O World, is not his best known work, he is better known for For the Fallen which is often used in military memorial services.
The Binyon is:
• a heptastich, a poem in 7 lines.
• metered, iambic tetrameter.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme AbccbaA.
• composed with a refrain, the 1st line is repeated as the last line.
O World, Be Nobler Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)
O WORLD, be nobler, for her sake!
If she but knew thee what thou art,
What wrongs are borne, what deeds are done
In thee, beneath thy daily sun,
Know’st thou not that her tender heart
For pain and very shame would break?
O World, be nobler, for her sake!
Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668>
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the wonderful PMO resource.
My example poem
Election Comes First (The Binyon)
I want you all to rest assured
I can be trusted with your vote.
The moneyed crowd does not own me,
I’m independent as can be.
I’ve got no mistress, plane, or boat,
I will someday though, mark my word.
I want you all to rest assured.
© Lawrencealot – June 12, 2014
Visual Template
The Binyon

The Arnold

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The Arnold is a stanzaic pattern that links stanzas with rhyme. It is named for English poet Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) and patterned after his poem The Hymn of Empedocles. Arnold was actually better known for writing the classic Dover Beach.
The Arnold is:
• stanzaic, written in any even number of cinquains.
• metered, L1 through L4 are trimeter, L5 is hexameter.
• rhymed. L1 through L4 are alternating rhyme, L5 rhymes with line 5 of the next stanza. The L5 rhyme changes every 2 stanzas. Rhyme scheme: ababc dedec fgfgh ijijh etc.
• L1 through L4 are indented 9 spaces. Now that is getting specific.
The Hymn of Empedocles by Mathew Arnold
IS it so small a thing
To have enjoy’d the sun,
To have lived light in the spring,
To have loved, to have thought, to have done;
To have advanced true friends, and beat down baffling foes;
That we must feign a bliss
Of doubtful future date,
And while we dream on this
Lose all our present state,
And relegate to worlds yet distant our repose?
Not much, I know, you prize
What pleasures may be had,
Who look on life with eyes
Estranged, like mine, and sad:
And yet the village churl feels the truth more than you;
Who ‘s loth to leave this life
Which to him little yields:
His hard-task’d sunburnt wife,
His often-labour’d fields;
The boors with whom he talk’d, the country spots he knew
But thou, because thou hear’st
Men scoff at Heaven and Fate;
Because the gods thou fear’st
Fail to make blest thy state,
Tremblest, and wilt not dare to trust the joys there are.
I say, Fear not! life still
Leaves human effort scope.
But, since life teems with ill,
Nurse no extravagant hope.
Because thou must not dream, thou need’st not then despair.
Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668>
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for the fine PMO resource.
My Example poem
Jar of Coins (The Arnold)
Jar of Coins
The coins are waiting now
in a five gallon jar.
They were not spent somehow
so that is where they are –
received as change when bread or milk was bought one day.
Those coins would not be missed
for times were not that bad.
coin hoarding would persist.
Someday I might be glad.
For years and years the coins joined others put away.
The economic tide
made metal prices race.
Some coins that rest inside
are worth more than their face.
That jar became a rock against emergency.
That heavy bottle seems
too much for me to lift.
It’s for my grandson’s dreams,
I plan it for a gift.
Bequeathing him some jingle, left unused by me.
© Lawrencealot – June 12, 2014
Visual Template
The Arnold