Paul Brookes’ chosen form last week was the mathnawi. This form of rhyming couplets has a good rhythm, and the internal rhymes give cohesion to the long lines of 10/11 syllables. Traditionally, the mathnawi gave long religious or mystical poems, so I decided to go with nature. The first poem has 11- syllable lines, rhyming couplets with the same internal rhyme. The second poem has 10-syllable lines and the half lines have their own rhyme. It would be interesting to try another one using consonance rather than full rhyme for the half-lines.

Dreams of flight

Heart and mind are one with the wind and no-sun,
rivers that run and run till the world is done,

and beneath this grim grey canopy of day,
we who’d choose the wild way, tread the tame byway.

I’d run with dainty deer and nimble hare, here
where rain and mere make mirrors of pewter…