Ballade of Sorrow

A Ballade of Sorrow

Upon my soul was etched in line and swirl
A drawing of the life I hoped we’d lead
Rich tapestry just waiting to unfurl
With detail to be filled by chosen deed.
But senseless fate did not the pattern heed;
Its random scribbles blotted once great art.
Envisioned beauty did so quick recede,
Though drawn together once, now torn apart.

When I was just a boy, and she a girl,
My princess fair, I swept up on my steed.
From boyhood games to bridegroom in a whirl
Our lives designed Above, all souls agreed.
But hearts drawn close by love may yet still bleed
And souls tho’ blessed by God may still depart.
None thought that wretched fate would intercede,
Though drawn together once, now torn apart.

Her eyes alight, she told me of a pearl
Which grew within her womb like precious seed.
We dreamed of chubby toes and ringlet curls
Our fam’ly portrait drawn as once decreed.
Yet sometimes lovely flow’r hides noxious weed
A misplaced seed did fatal wound impart.
I knelt down, wept, and for her life did plead;
Though drawn together once, now torn apart.

Oh, Prince, forgive my sad and sorrowed screed,
Writ on the tattered remnants of my heart.
Repair with healing solace in my need;
Though drawn together once, now torn apart.


* The contents here are fiction. They do not represent any real people or events, although they may reflect real emotions.


* The ballade (pronounced /bəˈlɑːd/; not to be confused with the ballad) consists of three eight-line stanzas, each with a consistent meter and a particular rhyme scheme. The last line in the stanza is a refrain, and the stanzas are followed by a four-line concluding stanza (an envoi) usually addressed to a prince.

I have used iambic pentameter and a rhyme scheme of ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC, where the capital 'C' is the refrain. The Prince I address is the "Prince of Peace", as Jesus is known in the Christian faith.