Tag: fire

I saw some beautiful photos of reptiles and amphibians that my friend took today. One particular photo of a tiny frog with bright fiery eyes (featured below) caught my imagination. The photo and the Malaysian Writers FB page writing prompt inspired me to write something about fire and mystery. 🙂

Fiery orbs of fire

Fiery orbs of fire
Full of mystery
Dare I draw your ire

Omen of misery
What secrets do you hide?
And feats of wizardry

What rules do you abide?
What bounties do you bequest?
With the rise and fall of the tides

Fiery orbs of fire; that never rest
Shrouded in obscurity; from east to west

An original poem by
Khor Hui Min
1 March 2015

Poetic style

This poem was written in the style of a terza rima – an Italian form of poetry first used by Dante Alighieri.

A terza rima consists of stanzas of three lines (or tercets). It follows an interlocking rhyming scheme, or chain rhyme – the middle of each stanza rhymes with the first and last line of the following stanza. However, there is no set length to this form, as long as it follows the pattern as follows:

ABA
BCB
CDC
DED

The last stanza will be a couplet rhyming with the middle line of the previous stanza. In this case, EE.

So here is my poem again with the rhyming scheme shown:

Fiery orbs of fire

(A)  Fiery orbs of fire
(B)  Full of mystery
(A)  Dare I draw your ire

(B)  Omen of misery
(C)  What secrets do you hide?
(B)  And feats of wizardry

(C)  What rules do you abide?
(D)  What bounties do you bequest?
(C)  With the rise and fall of the tides

(D)  Fiery orbs of fire; that never rest
(D)  Shrouded in obscurity; from east to west