My beloved serenades me
every evening after midnight
in the deepest, darkest hours,
sleeping softly, fresh as flowers.
Billows sweep; I hold on tight.
My beloved serenades me.
Charming lullaby, my sweet.
Power saw blows on with might
in the deepest, darkest hours,
like a backfire in the street.
Alarming throat play, never light;
my beloved serenades me.
Scaling walls at half past three,
roaring melody, my plight.
In the deepest, darkest hours,
betwixt pillows, still, I cower.
My beloved serenades me
in the deepest, darkest hours.
Tess Kincaid
January, 2010
My deepest apologies to King Solomon.
Would you like me to read it to you?
[delicados traços, moldura em forma de palavra,
ReplyDeletepara que se aconteça a poesia!]
Um imenso abraço, Tess
Leonardo B.
Good work, perfectly subtle rhymes. One wonders how more glorious the temple legacy if King Solomon actually had a power saw.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, I serenade my wife like a power saw as well. It apparently doesn't sound as nice when I do it.
ReplyDeleteHahaaa--every beloved I've ever had has serenaded me, too. Wonderful, Tess!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely description of an annoying thing in life.
ReplyDeleteIn love, everything is beautiful. You are blessed! Funny how that works.
ReplyDeleteGreat humour in this.
ReplyDeleteLovely & perfect, Ms. Tess! Synchronistically, I started a song-like poem yesterday. Not to turn it into a symphony.....LOL!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Marion
What a lovely blog and a beautiful Vilanelle. I've just found your blog and will definitely be returning.
ReplyDeleteWillow, I just know that you're a woman who NEEDS to be serenaded every night. May they continue for ever.
ReplyDeleteBisou, Cro.
Oh, good one.
ReplyDeleteYou trickster, Tess. I thought it was a sweet love poem, lol. Nothing worse than snoring. Except when my dog snores. He does it very softly and it's cute.
ReplyDeleteAine, yes, it's a villanelle! Thanks for noticing and welcome to Willow Manor.
ReplyDeleteI am certainly blessed to be serenaded. I'll take a power saw over an empty pillow any night!
ReplyDeleteHa, usually I'm pondering and contemplating after reading (though now hearing) one of your pieces but today I am just laughing - and enjoying as always.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. You are an artist with words as well as camera. Really enjoyed this one, Tess.
ReplyDeleteYou don't say what your beloved says to this poem?
ReplyDeletelove the repetitive form, so perfect for the content. delightful!
ReplyDeleteWeaver, my beloved laughed louder than a power saw!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletehehe....good way to express your frustration.
ReplyDelete... simply beautiful to read
ReplyDeleteLOL - this was great fun! I have that same serenade myself - & if it stops I have to check to make sure he's still breathing :)
ReplyDeleteI recognized that it's a villanelle too - I feel so cosmopolitan. It's about the only form I CAN recognize.
wow,
ReplyDeleteyour words are full of rhythms.
lovely emotions...
keep rocking.
Solomon weeps, Tess. Not out of anger or resentment, but out of sheer joy, at the beauty of this.
ReplyDeleteYour husbands serenade may leave something wanting - yours do not. He's a lucky man.
What an enchanting Villanelle!
ReplyDeleteBeing a little dense, I did not get the significance at first! But you could not have expressed your plight in a more beautiful way!
ReplyDeleteA "roaring melody"...ha! I loved the humor in this poem.
ReplyDeletesuch beauty in the lyrics of your word...lovely
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautifully comforting poem. My beloved serenades me too.
ReplyDeleteThe brilliance of a serenade for a loved one is never tiresome! Even if it's very much power-saw like snores!
ReplyDeleteAh Tess....beautiful....and particularly meaningful on the birthday of my Ex... this morning, I sang "Happy Birthday" to him over the phone.. if I had seen your post earlier, I would have read it to him...it is gorgeous. (We are talking again....)
ReplyDeleteYour poetry never ceases to inspire and amaze me, dear friend!
Love,
♥ Robin ♥
What a loving way to describe lying next to someone you love so much that even the snoring doesn't lessen the deep love.
ReplyDeleteLovely, lovely and double lovely
ReplyDeleteespecially in the middle of the night!
And now, dear hearts, we are
ReplyDeleteexposed to a Vilanelle, with
three line stanza, and the rhyme
teasing us in the middle one.
Cool, can't wait to see the
magpie responses; all humorous,
some tragic? You have mixed
love and humor with the deftness
of Woody Allen, and the flourish
of a romance poet. Nice piece.
Have you ever tried those
snore-no-more nose patch
thingamajigs?
only you could make life with a snorer sound so sweet....ha ha!!!
ReplyDeleteLovely word-work on a less than lovely experience. I know; mine serenades me as well - with pops and whistles and grunts and jerks. I am forced to move to the cot in the living room of our temporary digs.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to "The Bunker" I wil have in the new house's basement where I can escape all manner of storms and equally, the "serenades".
Kat
I would say a very unusual subject for a poem; but leave it up to you, Dear Tess, to turn it perfectly into poetic form! NICE! :)
ReplyDeleteI love it! This reminds me of both my parents. I could not possibly have inherited their sonorous slumbers, could I? My beloved, sensibly, keeps quiet about that.
ReplyDeletepillow songs . . . i've shared a few, heard a few. i love the words of the person who would take them in exchange for an empty pillow. bless you! steven
ReplyDeleteear plugs
ReplyDeleteGlenn, those snore-no-more thingies don't work on this particular serenader.
ReplyDeleteTom, earplugs make me claustrophobic. :P
I'm sure King Solomon has already forgiven you for so pleasing a piece.
ReplyDeleteha! i can relate.
ReplyDeleteyour take on this is (determinedly) more positive than mine. and yet i know you know just exactly what such serenades are like!
perfectly conveyed.
Deep, dark, broodingly beautiful.
ReplyDeleteA treat to read and hear...what a perfectly delightful twist on reality.
ReplyDeleteSimply put, ingenious. My husband (who says he doesn't usually enjoy poetry) liked this one a lot.
ReplyDeleteTess--This has such an "old world" flavor. "Billows sweep" is a great phrase, and I like the use of repetition.
ReplyDeleteSeperate rooms? I'm sure that Solomon had several of them!
ReplyDeleteSuch fun comments. I too am serenaded and am thrilled to be. Whistles, snores, and yelps... oh yes. Sometimes it is stereophonic with my love on one side and my pup on the other.
ReplyDeleteGreat fun, and thanks for the tutorial on Vill-a-what???? ha ha ha
ReplyDeleteTee hee -- I thought I saw where that was going! Fun!
ReplyDeleteWonderful .. you captured the real essence of that 'night music.'
ReplyDeleteIt's why my sister sleeps with a fan year round - it drowns out any and all sounds.
Helen, I use a little handy-dandy white noise machine. It works, kinda.
ReplyDeleteI loves this as I can relate to it so well. I am serenaded most nights just like this ...the other nights he is working night shifts ;-)
ReplyDeleteLove the humorous approach here to one of the many of life's musical pieces of time... tick, tick, tick, of the clock at 3am when the music continues to play on.
ReplyDeleteThis vilanelle hits the spot, Tess. Wonderful stuff!
ReplyDeleteso rhythmically composed. beautifully done!!
ReplyDeleteOh, this one is golden! I read it to my beloved, who used to serenate me. But there were too many long rests in the composition, and now he uses a C-pap.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention that the reason I felt your poem "beautiful" is that I am the offending party (thanks to a deviate septum caused by a broken nose) and my husband is the stoic recipient of the snoring. He, too, prefers I be beside him so he tolerates the noise. Bless us all! Love is grand...
ReplyDeleteoh, for the regularity of a power saw
ReplyDeleteit's the sudden starts ( and stops) that will shock you into levitation.
Nicely turned.
nice villanelle tess...i wish my snores counted as serenades...lol nice one shot
ReplyDeleteGreat poem - style and narrative.
ReplyDeleteDo you not have the option of placing anything other than pillows betwixt the roar renderer, and receiver...like a wall or two of silence?
ReplyDeleteDelightful rhyme scheme -- beautiful.
ReplyDeleteLOL Great poem, superb use of poetic form.
ReplyDeleteAll that from a snore? Well well! LOL
ReplyDeleteha - i love it - what a serenade...and without an instrument..smiles
ReplyDeleteglad my husband doesn't snore..
An unexpected and yet time old construction that I can't help but welcome. The power saw sobering, helps me.
ReplyDeletexo
erin
One wicked girl you are!
ReplyDeleteDelicious mischief,
powerful in all its subtlety.
Ah, the Queen of the Night,
who knows, hitting the high C
may have been her way
of silencing a midnight serenader? ;-)
so brilliant.
ReplyDeletebecause my husband travels so much I have a hard time adjusting to the inconsistency. am I going to be serenaded or not. and because he's often gone during the week, home on weekends, the time we get less sleep or broken sleep because of the kids comings and goings, well , the serenading is not so much appreciated. I can't fall back asleep so easily and he drops back into bliss and rhythm.
but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
May I copy this out and place it on my Gem's pillow? The Snorer's prayer! I listen to it nightly.
ReplyDeleteJust wonderful, Willow.
This is why they invented more than one bedroom! The older I get, the less tolerant I am of losing my sleep...it makes me cranky the next day. So, sometimes we just have "dates" and then go our separate ways! That and the inconsistencies with temperature at my age make cuddling during the night a bit less desirable. I am in the covers; I am out of the covers. Age, what a glorious adjustment!
ReplyDeleteA funny piece -- Snoring denotes life and isn't this what it is all about.-- barbara
ReplyDeleteThis post speaks "volumes" to me. Serenading indeed :)
ReplyDeleteoh ho- that's what I have to tell my sweetie whn he laims I snore! Great poem!
ReplyDeletebrilliant!
ReplyDeleteI too get serenaded nightly
but never yet has it inspired me!
Oh that was marvelous - beautifully funny!
ReplyDeleteWell serenades are good- a power saw ? I suppose is relentless in its sound- it is an interesting idea.City serenades are different that is for sure.I do like the rhythm, almost a song in itself.Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHaha... you are at your best with innuendo. Accidental or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIt seems the serenade turns into a crescendo of calamity? Enjoyed this.
ReplyDeleteLOL I had to read this over and over again. Loved it.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to remember this when my beloved starts snoring!
ReplyDeleteLove the humor, the rhyme, rhythm and the repetition. Great form.
ReplyDeleteA lovely villanelle --- it had such soft romantic over-voice, one hardly knew at first you were referring to snoring.
ReplyDeleteA charming creative witty poem.
joanny
Loved the wit of this! So well done.
ReplyDeleteUtterly brilliant!
ReplyDeleteOh... I really enjoyed the pace, rhythm and rhymes in this one!
ReplyDeleteI guess it sometimes becomes difficult to figure out if a serenade is romantically sweet or simply haunting....
I loved how you brought this out in your poem... 'charming' and 'cowering' says it all...
Dear Tess: How beautiful and masterfully made this truly magnificent poem! I love the traditional and modern interwoven as well as the fine technical skills employed in this oppulent gem of a poem. So glad we can bring back the Serenade to it's rightful position and awaken romance again!"Power saw blows on with mightin the deepest, darkest hours,
ReplyDeletelike a backfire in the street." HOT!
so beautifully written and spoken!
ReplyDeleteyes if one has a love, serenading is a requirement...nice...bkm
ReplyDeleteIt's a delightful poem. If it's based on reality, I'd recommend checking out puresleep.com. I have no financial interest in them, but found that by using their gizmo to correct my overbite at night, I rarely snore. Their device is over-priced and was uncomfortable until I got used to it, but it works.
ReplyDeleteAh, you amaze me. This is both stirring and humorous, and very musical in its own right.
ReplyDeleteThe photo is one of my favorite images yet, Tess.
How can one not laugh at this wonderful take?!
ReplyDeleteI am not surprise you nailed it again! I was drawn in and then bust out smiling at the power saw blows...a lovely but comical tribute to snoring!
ReplyDeleteThought it was a Villanelle
ReplyDeleteand you are a tease - romance mingled with the rumblings of the power saw - ha
Moonie smiles
Tess,
ReplyDeleteA jostling serenade, indeed!
This is neatly done, kept very close to exact form, yet startling in its imagery -- which powers over (!) neat behavioral edges.
Good one!
Trulyfool
Tess, I love the simple melody in this. Perhaps as we get older our musical powers increase. Andrea and I play a nightly nudging game. It certainly helps the children make the decision to leave home.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your concern about Brisbane and our welfare. Everything is getting back to normal.
Sweet, shadowy, exemplary poem.
ReplyDeleteI was laughing and feeling awe... who would have thought of writing so eloquently about snoring! you ofcourse :) Just discovered your site. Beautiful. Love it!
ReplyDeleteCheers
Padmavani