The Takhmis or Long-measure Verse is the 19th century Swahili version of a devotional Arabic stanzaic form of the same name. The Arabic Takhmis (to make five) dates back to the 18th century. In the Arabic form, L1-L3 of the stanza made up of 5 single hemistiches serves as a comtemporary expansion of L4-L5 which is verse written by an earlier poet, similar to the Glosa. The Swahili version appears to double up the hemistiches and most often is written by a single poet.
• The Arabic Takhmis is:
○ lyrical devotion.
○ stanzaic, written in 5 single hemistiches with the last 2 hemistiches adapted from earlier work of another poet,
○ rhyme scheme aaaax bbbbx x being unrhymed.
• The Swahili Takhmis is:
○ either a narrative or a lyrical medition.
○ stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains
○ syllabic, with at least 15 syllables, the line should be in 2 hemistiches and all lines should be approximately the same length.
○ rhymed, aaax bbbx cccx etc. NPEOPP
Pasted from Poetry Magnum Opus, with thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.
This is not a poem form that I personally have any interest in composing, so I merely leave you with Judi’s fine and sufficient documentation.