The earth keeps some vibration going:
The hoarse leaves crawl on hissing ground,
Seeds in a dry pod, tick, tick, tick.
The warning whispers pass
With songs of misery, music of our woes.
My soul, dressed in silence, rises up.
Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn
With only our tongues for our swords
And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know–
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
My attempt at a cento. The title is from Walter De La Mare’s “Listeners.”
Love this phrase – “With only our tongues for our swords.” Great entry.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading. That may be my favorite line of the whole thing–and I was thinking I really need to read more of Kipling’s poetry!
LikeLike
I love this! You did a wonderful job putting it together.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I had so much fun strewing my desk with poetry anthologies, being inspired by old favorites and those I’d either missed or undervalued. 🙂 I would definitely do another!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You made this look easy, but I know it must have taken time to select and arrange it to be just so. Bravo!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Cyn. It was fun to pick all kinds of lines and then try to see some pattern in them.
LikeLike
Yay, Jennifer! This is wonderful. The sounds in each line respond to one another beautifully. I think we looked at the same source material — I was digging into my Norton Intro to Poetry, which has completely fallen apart over the years but contains such treasures.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Meg. Yep, I saved all my Nortons. I was fairly baffled by some of my college-self notes. Poor Yeats was pretty scribbled over. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, wow, WOW! I love this beautiful creations so much. It’s funny because it sounds so you! I never would have guessed it was a cento for that reason, but also because it flows so beautifully. All those sounds! I envisioned pulling out my old poetry anthologies, too, but then a story I had lurking in my archives for months sort of finished itself. Next week!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Your supersweet and generous words got me thinking about how much my writing has been influenced, and by whom…it’s possible that any time I sit down to write, there is some Yeats pulsing in my subconscious… 🙂
I’m looking forward to reading a cento by Silverleaf!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Can’t go wrong with Yeats!
I’m working on a cento-have been for a few days-and am now even more impressed with how well yours flowed. It takes a lot of time to find the right lines!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m curious now about everyone’s line-searching technique. I just copied out lots and lots of lines that seemed to loosely go with the prompt, then played with them until I saw a pattern and dumped all the ones that didn’t fit. Trying again today. I might have to go back and find a few happier lines because it’s all pretty dark at the moment.
LikeLike
Ha! I did EXACTLY that, minus linking it to the prompt. I looked up some of my favourite poets, copied out lines from the poems I clicked on and then developed a theme or storyline around what started to emerge. Sometimes I think it makes sense, sometimes I think it sounds disjointed… I wouldn’t worry about dark; dark can be good!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really strong tone here, Jennifer. The bits and pieces of the first stanza felt like an orchestra warming up, and then, when the souls rose up, it felt exultant.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An orchestra warming up…love it.
LikeLike
“the hoarse leaves crawl on hissing ground” (love it)
You did a great job with this. Just lovely.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not a line I would have pegged on Hopkins, either. 🙂 Thanks for reading!
LikeLike
Congratulations!
LikeLike
Thank you. Congrats to you, what an awesome week!
LikeLike
Love this, especially the second verse. Congratulations!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! This form is so much fun for me, trying another one this week.
LikeLike