death not the final act

 

We wish our loved ones in our arms could stay

but sovereign God upon the throne he sits.

As long as we have breath, life’s stage we play,

performing to extent of strength and wits.

We take (or miss) our cues by starts and fits;

laugh at ourselves in life’s strange comedy.

Joy of our moment in the spotlight flits;

last curtain calls for death’s dark tragedy.

As lights go dim, the end brings tear to eye;

the pain of letting go stings oh so smart.

Remembering best scenes will make us cry;

lead actor’s lines forever in our heart.

Around me gather when life ends with moan,

when God directs, I’ll rise from vault of stone!

 

-Dedicated to memory of Lisa Wielenga, taken at age 29.  She believed!

 


 

Bouts-Rimés (pronounced Boo-ReeMay) is French for “rhymed ends” and is the name given to a rhyming game of poets.  I wrote this sonnet using a list of ending words for each line, to be used in order given (more info at: dVerse Poets)

23 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. katiemiafrederick
    Mar 30, 2016 @ 17:39:32

    SMiLes.. from
    Star duSt
    wE
    come
    to duSt
    wE go
    the dance
    goes on
    wE
    SinG
    allOne..:)

    Reply

  2. phoartetry
    Mar 22, 2016 @ 08:13:45

    A bitter sweet sonnet written from the heart and soul.

    Connie

    Reply

  3. Hannah Gosselin
    Mar 19, 2016 @ 13:45:20

    So young to pass…this poem is powerfully given, lynn…and ended well on the note of rising…beautiful!

    Reply

  4. writersdream9
    Mar 19, 2016 @ 09:49:43

    The truth spoken so beautifully!

    Reply

  5. ZQ
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 16:20:35

    A beautiful “prayer”

    Reply

  6. Grace
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 16:00:23

    What a lovely tribute to your young friend Lynn ~ Though this is sad, there is hope in the ending:

    when God directs, I’ll rise from vault of stone!

    Reply

  7. Gay Reiser Cannon
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 14:49:19

    Your “bouts” was well constructed as a beautiful elegy to your friend. It progressed with grace and solemnity. Beautiful.

    Reply

  8. Victoria C. Slotto
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 10:53:55

    Beautiful writing and tribute to one who went before us at such a young age. Nice work with the form, Lynn

    Reply

  9. Sanaa Rizvi
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 06:22:32

    Beautifully poignant ❤ love your response to the bouts-rimes 🙂

    Reply

  10. scotthastiepoet
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 04:52:13

    Truly elevating write Lynn… Hope you enjoy threads when it arrives… It will be making its way across the pound this wknd, I’m sure… x

    Reply

  11. Björn Rudberg (brudberg)
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 04:06:43

    Such a magnificent Sonnet that could be written by Spenser himself… This is a piece of art (though bitter-sweet to part)

    Reply

  12. summerstommy2
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 01:45:04

    Wow lynn but such a sad poem and of a young lady taken so young. I loved the way your words flowed and in places echoes of Shakespeare.

    Reply

  13. MarinaSofia
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 01:13:57

    29 is far too young to go! But I like echoes of Shakespeare in your verse and the use of rhyme. So hard to not make rhyme sound too jaunty and inappropriate, but you succeed.

    Reply

  14. Edward Rinaldi (@blindedbeatpoet)
    Mar 18, 2016 @ 00:21:02

    between an earthquake and a koan, where for art thou plates and spines beneath the skin and bones of a soul digging into its life…why, in a poem of course…in a poem…très bon

    Reply

I welcome your comments!

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: