Zeus raped, as rain so golden
A maiden
Climactic floods ravish the plain
In Spain
Whilst others crave rain from above
Like love
Rain will not send forth a white dove
Become like a fickle mistress
Leaving her lover in distress
A maiden in Spain likes love…
Written for Laura Bloomsbury’s prompt in dVerse Poets Pub:-
So today being the 10th day our poetry is to be crafted in the style of the Spanish Ovillejo which comprises 10 lines broken into two sub stanzas thus:
- first stanza is composed of six lines
- three rhyming couplets
- the rhyme scheme is aabbcc
- 8/3 syllables per couplet
- each couplet is a question/answer or echo
- –
- second stanza is composed of four lines
- rhyme scheme cddc
- 6-8 syllables for the three lines* (I’ve seen a range of syllables used).
- the final line combines lines 2, 4, and 6 together.
© Andrew Wilson, 2023
this was a fun, climatic rendition for an ovillejo mixing mythology with the Spanish rain and brilliantly wrought the way you made the three repeats smooth into a phrase
Thank you Laura – glad to have met your challenge – I really enjoyed this mind stretch…
Well written ~ I really enjoyed this piece 🙂
Much love,
David
Thanks David…
Very clever, a different and enjoyable read
Rain is wonderful, but I can certainly do without Zeus!
I know! What does it say about a people who imagine their chief god as a serial rapist! Having said that, Klimt’s painting manages not to be salacious but suggests an ambiguity which I think I also managed in the poem – not that I thought of the painting till sometime after posting…
Thanks for visiting Jane
The painting, your poetry … a beautiful combo. Thoroughly enjoyable!
Thanks Helen, as I said above, I had forgotten this painting till after I wrote the poem but it certainly fits…
Your mix of dark and light is clever.
Thanks for dropping by my blog
Much💖love
It is dark and light isn’t it- and isn’t that the truth of our human condition – never more than with all we have to face today…
Thanks Gillena, for visiting and for your comment!
I really like this poem. It’s a tricky form, too, and you mastered it.
These Poets Pub challenges are such fun…
Well then.😅
Or rather ,ambiguous…
Lovely combination of verse and image 💞
A comment as ambivalent as the sentiments in the poem, Melissa – lol
I love your mingling of rain and mythology to strike a multi-layered tone. Brilliant use of the form.
Thanks Dora – for your kind comment and visiting…
Enjoyed the mythical theme with the form. These challenges stretches our poetic mind like a puzzle. Thanks for joining in.
Thanks Grace – just thinking that nobody seems to have spotted the My Fair Lady allusion “The rain in Spain, stays mainly on the plain!” Low brow and high brow allusions…
“rain will not send forth a white dove.”
Lovely writing! Caught the My Fair Lady reference, nicely couched in this.
Yes that is my favourite line too because it was the least driven by the requirements of fitting the story to the form..
Glad you spotted My Fair Lady too, that was a fun allusion to squeeze in…