Merlin has introduced us to what we will call
'short rondeau' by quoting a piece by James Henry Leigh Hunt:
QUOTE
Jenny Kissed Me
Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kissed me.
- James Henry Leigh Hunt
Simply by observation, I conclude that the specific meter of each line is probably up to the writer, so long as the metrical pattern continues throughout the poem up to the concluding phrase (a repetition of the opening segment of the first line) and that the rhyme pattern is as follows:
A
b
a
b
c
d
c
R of A (d)
Note: previously we'd not recognized that L6 should rhyme with the closing fragment (
'rentrement' ) A
Since Merlin offered this comment when he referred to Hunt's poem:QUOTE
Global warming has finally arrived in my region, so I'll most likely be away from the keyboard much of the time, getting my fix of vitamin SUN!
Merlin
... I found it necessary to challenge his 'lame excuse' (tongue-in-cheek, of course) with my own very first 'short rondeau' fashioned after his example:
Merlin's Hiding
Merlin's hiding in the sun --
saying that he'll do no writing?
Time, you thief, you get it done --
use that laptop you've been slighting.
We are weary; no excuse!
Say no more your health's dividing.
Lounging there on his caboose
Merlin's hiding.© MLee Dickens'son 2013
correction: L6 previously: Say no more your health prevent's it.We hope that y'all will give the form a try yourself!
deLighting in the prospect, Daniel