Within Us All (Kyrielle)

by debbylyn   Mar 14, 2009


Looking to heaven, moonlight, stars
For who we were and who we are
Elusive answers, feel so small
A universe within us all

Mankind's creation, fireside quest
Religion conquers, which is best?
Faithful followers heed the call
A universe within us all

Keeping holy the Sabbath day
Pious masses bow down to pray
From forest floor to mountains tall
A universe within us all

But what is held when all is lost?
In the name of God, what the cost
In isolation, building walls
A universe within us all

From lofty window looking down
Vast oceans blue and Earth of brown
Perhaps the end may be forestalled
A universe within us all

The answer we will never know
Upon reflection, time to grow
Learning to love before we fall
A universe within us all

A Kyrielle is a French form of rhyming poetry written in quatrains (a stanza consisting of 4 lines), and each quatrain contains a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the poem consists of only eight syllables. There is no limit to the amount of stanzas a Kyrielle may have, but three is considered the accepted minimum.

Some popular rhyming schemes for a Kyrielle are: aabB, ccbB, ddbB, with B being the repeated line, or abaB, cbcB, dbdB.

Mixing up the rhyme scheme is possible for an unusual pattern of: axaZ, bxbZ, cxcZ, dxdZ, etc. with Z being the repeated line

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Latest Comments

  • 14 years ago

    by Faithless

    Wow i totally love the context of this poem. I like how you poured out your thoughts and blend them in a poetic message of how we should love each other, rather than compare/debate/fight about which religion is the best. I never heard of this form before but you have certainly penned it beautifully with this poem of yours.

    Excellent Job

  • 14 years ago

    by Italian Stallion

    Wow, wonderful write, I really enjoyed the read. Your words were powerful and so deep. The flow was flawless and the structure was good. I really liked this, keep up the fantastic work.

    Peace, Joe

  • 15 years ago

    by Nee

    I love it!!
    How come I didn't see this earlier..shame..
    I loved the repetitive line, I don't like kyrielle poems because they make so many restrictions once you define your repetitive line.
    You chose a good one Debb =)
    Good write hunn
    Keep it up~

  • 15 years ago

    by Melpomene

    Debbylyn,

    While reading this piece I discovered much wisdom. I must say that just by reading this to me you seem like such a wise lady. I personally, have never written a Kyrielle and in my opinion this was done quite lovely, to me it seems like you had no trouble with this form.

    For some reason this piece really made me smile, I don't think I have read too many of your poems and i'm quite disapointed that I havn't. This was such an interesting poem. I would of never been able to write about this subject the way you did with such elegance. For some reason it made me feel at peace with your wording as they created a tranquil feeling over the atmosphere.

    I liked how you answered a question with no answer if that makes any sense to you at all. You said they answer is we will never know. I felt as though you had been asked a question and in return that was your answer. It created such a different effect over me. Usually when writing people answer questions within their poetry, not you though. You wrote about the subject, you never intended on answering it.

    Overall this was such a lovely piece of work.
    -Mel

  • 15 years ago

    by Daisy if you do

    Deb,
    This was such an amazing write. It is so true that everything that is came from within. Beautiful, Elegant, Classy and very worthy of a win. This is one of my favorite writes from you. Great Job.

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