• Week 48 • ZaniLa Rhyme •

Between sleep and i

i’ve curled tight inside my lethargy
warmed by half-expectation
behind colder bells, the wind how tells
tall, bright tales. The conflagration

of red umbrellas arrows through grey
lace curtains; the voices soak
the wind who tells, behind colder bells
stories i almost hear. They stoke

further tales, stir them with the embers
the words drowsy with disuse
behind colder bells, the wind who tells
half-lies to a hibernating muse

The ZaniLa rhyme is a form created by Laura Lamarca and has a mathematical, rocking motion that makes me thing of the poetry of Auden.
the form is made up of at least three stanzas, the first, 3rd and 4th contain 9 syllables, while the 2nd line contains 7.
There is also a refrain in two parts in the 3rd line that is switched to alternate from stanza to stanza.

The rhyme scheme is as follows:

xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxa
xxxxxxxxx (refrain)
xxxxxxxxa

xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxb
xxxxxxxxx (refrain)
xxxxxxxxb

xxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxc
xxxxxxxxx (refrain)
xxxxxxxxc