How Glorious The Year As It Comes To An End (Pantoum)

How glorious the year as it comes to an end,

Thankful for all that I have received,

Complaints I have few, no regrets do I send,

Dismissing what should never be grieved.

.

Thankful for all that I have received,

A fool would I be to complain,

Dismissing what should never be grieved,

Cherishing that which remains.

.

A fool would I be to complain,

Perceived as nothing but a whiner,

Cherishing that which remains,

Leaving only the good which is finer.

.

Perceived as nothing but a whiner,

Is something which should never be attained,

Leaving only the good which is finer,

To those that will follow unconstrained.

.

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~

.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

Description taken from : http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/pantoum.html

The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.

The design is simple:

Line 1

Line 2

Line 3

Line 4

.

Line 5 (repeat of line 2)

Line 6

Line 7 (repeat of line 4)

Line 8

Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanza then repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first line of the poem is also the last.

Last stanza:

Line 2 of previous stanza

Line 3 of first stanza

Line 4 of previous stanza

Line 1 of first stanza

Humbled By A Stranger

Talk of family

Words did not come easily

But I understood

Though our languages differ

We spoke as if long lost friends

You Colombian

Plagued by crime and poverty

Low pay your reward

Yet still you love your country

Love it with all of your heart

Me American

My badge of entitlement

Worn outward with shame

Embarrassed by my complaints

You my friend have humbled me

~

~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~