The 99 Poem Challenge (Fox-Trot-9) ✓

91. Bar Form -- Threshold to Adventure

The 99 Poem Challenge
Fox-Trot-9

91. Bar Form — Threshold to Adventure

Oh, how I yearn for days gone by when gallant knights
In shining armor journeyed far for days and nights
   To seek out awesome treasures, battle brigand foes,
   Or even sweep fair ladies off their dainty toes.
Such are my dreams on those passionate journeys of yore,
   When the pluck in these men was renowned and encouraged;
Yet in these days of corruption and pain, I deplore
   The shear shortage of justice and trust, now discouraged.

Where can a prince now hoist his banner for a battle,
When everywhere I look we sit around and prattle?
   How can a woman be respected as a lady,
   When she cannot respect herself as strong already?
There was a strength in our hearts in those days, when the earth
   Was still young and the beauties of nature were potent;
Sometimes I sigh the demise of our God-given worth
   When I reckon each person to grow up a dotant! *

So deep these thoughts entrench themselves into my brain
That I now roam in sunshine, overcast and rain,
   Believing in this make-believe of noble actions,
   Attracting stares from passers-by with snide reactions;
But in my loafing around in the streets like a lout, **
   I become now aware of a following presence;
'Round do I spin on my heels while preparing to shout,
   As I try to surprise my pursuer's quiescence. ***

But when I turn around to face my foe, I halt
Upon the boom and shatter of a thunderbolt
   Striking the ground where I had stepped for just a second
   Ago when I could barely notice I was threatened.
Out of the tumult of scattered debris stands a dame
   Or an angel in armor prepared for engagement;
Crowned with a laurel, her beauty puts others to shame
   And can smother the vigor of bitter enragement.

Her flowing locks of hair, her massive eagle wings,
Her stainless garments bright: the wonder of these things
   Astonishes my eyes and permeates my soul
   With dread to view such splendor clear and whole,
Bringing to mind the majestic impression of heaven
   In the bodily form of a maiden of honor,
Touching the void of my soul with a light to believe in
   Like a lamp in the storm of my doubting upon her.

Oh, how I tremble 'neath her blazing eyes of fire,
And yet her aspect forms a guise of sweet desire,
   Melting my heart as Venus melts the heart of Mars;
   Her armor shimmers with the gleam of countless stars,
Bringing to mind the impression of Pallas Athena
   With the grace of a goddess, the strength of a mountain,
Full of exuberance, poised as a lenient czarina— ****
   So that I am struck dumb as though drunk from a fountain.

She says, "I've seen you wander through these humble parts
As though in search of something in your heart of hearts."
   I say, "I know not even what I'm looking for
   As though I'm looking vainly for some hidden door,
But in my search through my wandering steps, I'm astray
   From the path of a promising future of plenty.
Angel in armor, please, show me the truth and the way
   To the path I must walk with the wise cognoscenti." *****

She says, "The journey for the truth is full of hardships,
A voyage through the storms of doubt and broken friendships,
   As much a passage of the soul as it's a passage
   Across both land and sea, through strife and disadvantage."
But in my haste to dispel every doubt, I now say,
   "Though the truth and the way is suffused with much darkness,
Drowning the souls of adventurous fools in its sway,
   I shall suffer it out of my system in starkness." ******

So with these words, I bear out all my confidence
With all the pomp of youth that shuts out consequence.
   I watch her with expectant eyes, imploring her
   To let me prove my declaration true and sure.
"Promising words cannot prove your commitment," she says,
   "For the heart does not grow through mere words but through action;
False is this world of inertia that flatters with praise!
   Only an act of free will can resolve your decision!"

A burning impulse stokes the fires within my breast
As I reflect upon the message she impressed,
   As I find out the meaning of her erudition—
   To look inside myself and make my own decision.
"You are the truth and the way and the will," she then says,
   "And the search for the way is your will to discover
All that you are from today to the end of your days—
   To uncover that path as a broad-minded rover."

Now that I understand, she smiles a knowing smile
That takes my breath away with her angelic style,
   Before she disappears right out of sight and sound,
   Yet in my heart I sense she knows where I am found.
Here at the start of my journey, the threshold of action,
   Shall I chart out the course that begins my beginning;
Crossing the threshold now fills me with great satisfaction,
   Overcoming my limits to find myself grinning!

(To be continued...)

A/N: The Bar Form is a medieval, German stanzaic form. Lutheran chorals and minnesingers of the 12th thru 14th centuries used the form. The Bar form is (1) stanzaic, any number of octaves made up of 2 couplets followed by a quatrain; the 2 halves of the octave are known as Aufgesang and the Abgesang "after song" (the Abgesang can use portions of an Aufgesang phrase) and (2) metered, at the discretion of the poet as long as the rhythm of the lines of the first couplet is repeated by the 2nd couplet, the following quatrain has a different rhythm in each line which is not repeated within the octave; it might be clearer described in music the first 2 couplets repeat a melody, the quatrain carries a different melody.

* Dotant = (n.) Shakespearean: an old senile person.
** Lout = (n.) a country bumpkin.
*** Quiescence = (n.) a state of idleness.
**** Czarina = (n.) Russian: a female autocratic ruler.
***** Cognoscenti = (n.) Italian: people in the know.
****** Starkness = (n.) completeness.

Meter: Varies (Iambic, trochaic, amphibrachic, dactylic...etc.)
Rhyme: aabbcdcd or ababccdd