As Autumn turns to winter, leaving summer far behind, I wrote this poem concerning the onslaught of winter. The form is a Circlet, my own creation (I don’t think I’ve ever seen it elsewhere). Each verse has three lines of ten syllables each. The second line of each verse becomes the first line of the next verse until the second line of the final verse repeats the first line of the first verse. The rhyming pattern is aba, bcb, cdc, ded, efe, faf. I hope you enjoy it. There is another example “Annie’s Poem” at http://www.padrebob.com/annie.htm


Winter Advances
By Bob Blackman
Copyright © October 2008


Fierce and angry, the hungry wolf advances,
Low on the horizon and close to the ground,
Grown much too famished to take any chances.

Low on the horizon and close to the ground,
Accompanied by cold and blust’ry winds,
The sun settles lower as earth turns round.

Accompanied by cold and blust’ry winds,
The season’s first drifts are never snow white.
Leaves break loose, tumble down, like falling trends.

The season’s first drifts are never snow white.
Golden yellow and red, and orange and brown,
Leaves swirl and dance like an army of sprite.

Golden yellow and red, and orange and brown.
So briefly they brighten the world with joy.
A brief reprieve, then the town battens down.

So briefly they brighten the world with joy.
Fierce and angry, the hungry wolf advances,
Summer and autumn, doth winter destroy.

END