Finding Time

Joe skips Christmas because of all the waves
associated with the Christmas rush.
The lure of other holidays awaits.
Yet Christmas holiday is pressed for time.
Thus there are many things for him to seek;
he is content to take his ease at home.

A refuge from the bustle is his home
for it is comfort like the ocean waves.
Outside he does not care to always seek;
that seems to be the game as people rush.
The masses move with speed bereft of time;
another Christmas tidal wave awaits.

Joe is not happy with what now awaits;
the population scrambles far from home.
He lounges in his easy chair with time
not thinking of the Christmas shopping waves.
Though Santa and his elves attend to rush,
he passes on the spree some people seek.

He sidesteps Yuletide holiday to seek
an inner peace which patiently awaits.
Joe knows it’s hard to find if in a rush.
When peace arrives he’s pleasantly at home,
without the outside dash-about that waves.
He relishes this non-frenetic time.

Although the enemy of man is time,
(intrepid rascal playing hide and seek),
he sometime stands aside and calmly waves,
then folds his arms and patiently awaits.
Those are the times we know we have come home
whenever we are caught up in a rush.

Joe is averse to any type of rush
that tenses nerves and undermines his time.
His venture is the peacefulness of home,
wherein relaxed he finds the want to seek.
Despite his Christmas skip the warmth awaits,
with friends and kin as warmth arrives in waves.

He is not bothered by the pounding waves
which tower high when Christmas rush awaits;
Joe feels delight when there is love to seek.


39 Lines (Sestina)
Writer’s Cramp Winner
12-21-19
________

The sestina follows a strict pattern of the repetition of the initial six end-words of the first stanza
through the remaining five six-line stanzas, culminating in a three-line envoi. The lines may be
of any length, though in its initial incarnation, the sestina followed a syllabic restriction. The form
is as follows, where each numeral indicates the stanza position and the letters represent end-words:

1. ABCDEF
2. FAEBDC
3. CFDABE
4. ECBFAD
5. DEACFB
6. BDFECA
7. (envoi) ECA or ACE
_________

Repeated Words In Finding Time:

A: Waves
B: Rush
C: Awaits
D: Time
E: Seek
F: Home