Love and Death Sestina

An old man still in love
Despite having grueling work,
Still managed to find time to play
Loved to spend his nights eating.
A delicious dinner with his wife before sleeping.
Hoping that would not be the day he dies.

But he thought if he were to die,
Perhaps he would soon see his love
Thinking of his love as he fell asleep,
For lately he had been consumed with working
Barely having time to eat
Not remember the last time he played.

Remembering that he loved to play
There were many games to play before he died.
Many more meals left to eat as well.
Perhaps more women left to love,
If only he could quit working
And finally, get some much-needed sleep.
went

As he fell asleep
The recalled the games he had played
Before he ends up almost working
To an early death
Recalling all he had loved,
And all the great meals that he had eaten,

He woke up hungry ready to eat
Afterward, he fell back asleep
Filled with memories of his lost love
And all the games he had played
So more to do before he died
Thinking again he had to quit working.


He woke up dreading going back to work
But first, he stopped off to eat
A final meal before he died
In the afternoon he took a long sleep
Thinking of all the great poker games he had played
Filled with memories of his lost love.

Filled with thoughts of love he went to work
Thinking of playing a game of poker while he ate
He went home, fell asleep, and woke up dead.

My prompt words

Loving
Working
Playing
Eating
Sleeping
Dying

Line count 39

Note: the form is fiendishly difficult and I am not sure I nailed it.

It took me a long time, to try this one. It is a form you have to dare actually. The Sestina. My dear friend The Milkman sent me the following explanation:

Sestinas from Miriam Sagan(Writer’s Digest July 2003)An excerpt of the article

The sestina may look like a difficult form, but don’t be daunted---it is very
rewarding to write. And the deck of cards makes it easier.
The sestina has six stanzas of six lines, with an ending tercet(stanza of three
lines). To begin the process of writing a sestina, you need six words that
will repeat as end words in a fixed pattern. The repeating words do not have
to recur verbatim. Variations of the words are OK.

So randomly pick six words from the deck. Or you can choose six words you
think will work. Go for a mix of easy and difficult. Don’t try to cluster six
vocabulary words that go together--- the sestina is about leaps and bounds as
well as cohesion. You may want to use words with variations, and some words
that can double as nouns or verbs. Homonyms are good choices as well.

Here’s a grid that shows how a sestina works. Each letter refers to the ending
word of one line, and each stanza has six lines. Each ending word appears
exactly once in each stanza, but never in the same position.

Stanza 1:
A, B, C, D, E, F

Stanza 2
F, A, E, B, D, C

Stanza 3
C, F, D, A, B, E

Stanza 4
E, C, B, F, A, D

Stanza 5
D, E, A, C, F, B

Stanza 6
B, D, F, E, C, A

Tercet:
Line 1 AB
Line 2 CD
Line 3 EF

in the ending tercet of three lines, words A and B must appear in the line
(with A placed about midway in the line and B ending it); the second line must
contain CD, and the third line, EF. At this point, however, many poets run the
words in any order they like---and you can too. This tercet is sort of a free summary after a strict form.

The easiest way to start writing is to set up your words on the grid, write the
first stanza, then flow as the pattern dictates.

Obviously, some of the pleasure here is in following the form, some in
modifying words you feel the need.