Shadows of the Butterflies [Rondeau]

Eyes of misty grey -- look out upon the sky,
Crimson tears fall -- tattered wings refuse to fly,
Raven rivers flow down across rosy cheeks,
An aching heart beats through a body gone weak;
..........Following in the shadows of the butterflies.

Dampened cheeks shiver, with crimson tears gone dry;
And she catches a shadow inside her eye,
Reaching out, she tries her best to gently speak --
..........................................Eyes of misty grey.

Fluttering wings mutter a broken lullaby,
As she looks toward a soaring butterfly,
Her wings are shattered on the bank of the creek,
She tries her best to scream, but her voice is weak;
So she raises her dreams to the stars in the sky --
..................................Eyes of misty grey.

-Jenna Elphick
September 8, 2007

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A Rondeau is a French form, 15 lines long, consisting of three stanzas: a quintet, a quatrain, and a sestet with a rhyme scheme as follows: aabba aabR aabbaR. Lines 9 and 15 are short - a refrain (R) consisting of a phrase taken from line one. The other lines are longer (but all of the same metrical length).