poem | sirocco sestina

This poem is from the most recent writers' session. We each opened the dictionary and picked a word at random, then used these as prompts for or inclusions in our various stories. Having been studying troubadour poetry, I wanted to play with some of the styles they used - including the sestina, which is a six verse poem with six lines per verse, and the same six words end each line. I had only four words to play with, so it's not quite a sestina, but I'm happy with the effect.

The words we found were:

- Sirocco :: A hot, stifling [wind] blowing from North Africa into South Europe.
- Libertine :: A person who is promiscuous and unscrupulous, [wild].
- Faith-healing :: The treatment of a sick person by the power of religious [faith].
- Impi :: a group of warriors from the Zulu [tribe].

----

In the heat of Afric' was born sirocco wind
And stirred the hearts of young libertines, wild,
Whose foolishness could heal alone by faith
Held by the Impi warriors and their tribe.

They walked where grass grew free and beasts roamed wild
And beat against the boundaries of their tribe,
Their speech was proad and roaring like the wind,
They who defied both gods and trust and faith.

The youths and girls who questioned bounds of faith
Became cast out and exiled from their tribe,
Blew lost across the grasslands like the wind,
Their hearts and minds becoming mad and wild.

Elders and wise men gathered in the tribe
Beneath the skies where all the earth grew wild:
They called upon the guardians of their faith
Whose spirits fell upon the land like wind.

The rebels spurned their past and grew more wild,
Forgetting fast all that they knew of faith
And wandering far and further from their tribe,
Blowing from place to place just like the wind.

While mothers wept and wailed in the tribe,
Their voices carrying sadly on the wind,
Mourning their children lost unto the wild
Whose return could come alone by faith.

The deities swept forward on the wind,
Borne by the strength of prayers and trusting faith,
To bring back home the sole hope of the tribe,
To turn at last the children free and wild.

The libertines were overcome by faith
And healing seemed blown to them on the wind,
The Impi welcomed home their kindred wild
Who, in sirocco season, then rejoined the tribe.


[Arctic Nettles (c) 2008]