Midnight ride

[Pendragon]

MIDNIGHT RIDE

Fear rides in on a pale horse,
Much like Death, only twice as cold.
He smiles a toothy, terrible smile.
He likes to watch you shake and tremble.

Much like Death, only twice as cold,
Fear is the thing that gibbers in the darkness.
He likes to watch you shake and tremble.
He toys with the imagination and memory.

Fear is the thing that gibbers in the darkness.
He laughs a dry, irritating cackle.
He toys with the imagination and memory.
They are his two worst tools of torture.

He laughs a dry, irritating cackle
When imagination sketches shapes in the shadows.
They are his two worst tools of torture,
For memory is what triggers the terror.

When imagination sketches shapes in the shadows,
You jump at every tick of the clock
For you never can quite remember
If that shadow was there before…

You jump sat every tick of the clock,
Ear listening for the repetition of the sound.
If that shadow was there before,
Why are you trembling now?

Ear listening for the repetition of the sound,
He smiles a toothy terrible smile.
Why are you trembling now?
Fear rides in a pale horse.

Pendragon 1995

[PrinceMyshkin]

I don't know if this is an established form, or your own free use of repeated lines, but they are highly effective, eerily so; indeed the repetition underscores the idea of the thing that just won't let go.

[symphony]

I've been so busy with the other regularities of my life that i have had to miss this one regularity of being an avid reader of the personal poetry section. I've missed this place. And i've missed your poems, Uncle Pen. Reading all these poems that i've missed is continually bringing sighs on having (most probably) missed so many other splendors. I'll sure try to be regular here once again.

[Buh4Bee]

Pendragon, I have read some of your other stuff, but I didn't make the connection that you are a poet. I like the repetition, it was successful for me as well as a motif.

He laughs a dry, irritating cackle
When imagination sketches shapes in the shadows.

For me, these were powerful lines. I think I have experienced this kind of terror in my own mind before.

[Dark Muse]

I quite enjoyed this, very lovely and dark. I particuarly liked the lines

Much like Death, only twice as cold.

[MorpheusSandman]

This is called a Pantoum, (Pan-TOOM) Prince, where each stanza's lines 1 and 3 repeats lines 2 and 4 of the previous stanza. This is an especially good one; I especially love the entanglement of death and fear and how the attributes of one intimately connect to the other; essentially saying 'free yourself from fear (of death) and you free yourself from death'. Wonderful.

[Pendragon]

Morpheus is quite right, a pantoum. Glad you folks enjoyed it. I'll have to post that Villenelle about dreams, just for Morpheus' sake. :) http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l108/AbsalomKane/waiving_dragon.gif

[AuntShecky]

I wish that folks who want to try writing verse wouldn't be so scared off by trying their hand at various forms, though I know that metered verse can be a bear sometimes. The
pantoum is a good one to try because it forces the writer to craft a "line" that has to be good enough to bear up under repetition.

This is a perfect example of a pantoum. Years ago the poetry columnist in the Writer's Digest touted the form as a way for would-be poets to "practice," just as pianists practice by playing scales.

But this far from mere "practice." Every line is finely-crafted, and I think it's well-done.

[blazeofglory]

This poem is dragging us somewhere that is unrevealed and muffled.I enjoy reading it.

[Buh4Bee]

Aunt Shecky, your right, maybe we should try some structured writing.