Hands That See
One day it just so happened,
when I was twenty-three
and out about my grind,
as happy and carefree
as someone of my station
is well inclined to do,
I met a stranger kind—
and that kind man was you.
You asked me for my number.
I blushed, then paled to white—
We neither one could find
a pen with which to write.
You bummed one off a stranger.
No paper! New alarm!
You didn’t seem to mind,
just wrote it on your arm.
That very night you called me;
we’ve not stopped talking since.
Years later you remind
me how you would convince
me somehow to go walking
at midnight on the beach—
The best of all mankind,
his hand within my reach….
One day you took my finger,
and on it placed a band,
your pledge of love that binds;
and then you took my hand
and promised to be faithful,
and I the pledge returned.
The clock seemed so unkind
because for you I yearned.
I’ve memorized your features,
I know your every touch,
for only eyes are blind—
the hands can see so much.
For when we come together,
my fingers trace your plain
until the hours unwind
and we are young again!
Copyright © 2019 Abigail Gronway – All Rights Reserved
Welcome to my series, Incremental Poetry, where each week the featured poem will be one line longer than the one I share the week before. I have no idea how long I’ll keep this up, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Thank you for stopping by.
Scansion:
Paulo Ludibrium Comitato
“Little Toy Train” invented by Lawrence Eberhart (a.k.a. Lawrencealot of AllPoetry.com)
patterned after the Paulo Comitato (“Little Train”)
Stanzaic: 1 or more octaves made up of two quatrains
L1 and L5 = iambic trimeter with an extra unaccented syllable, unrhymed
The remaining lines are proper iambic trimeter and are rhymed.
Syllabic structure: 7-6-6-6-7-6-6-6
Rhyme scheme: xabaxcbc
Note: I don’t know whether succeeding octaves are tied together by rhyme.
Hence, rhyme scheme of second stanza may be xdbdxebe or xdedxfef. Or I suppose if you wanted to, you could keep the same rhyme as the first. I decided to tie all the stanzas together with the b rhyme, as railroad cars are tied together.
Dark Side of the Moon 