Elegy for Gilchrist, Lord of Dogs

Maister Colyne Stewart, October AS 52 (2017)

Oh, lean of leg, the gallant canine stands

His hazel eyes regard ducal estate

The grand demesne of sky, and lake, and land,

Belov’d by all, and yet life cannot wait,

A call to pass beyond mere mortal gate,

He gentle licks soft hands with kindly sigh,

Lo, unafraid he goes to meet his fate,

And now the stars fair twinkle, like his eye.

“I try to write”

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, March AS 50 (2016)

I try to write, put pen to page—

The cat will not be silent, no,

The world outside won’t quell its rage,

And neither will it let words flow.

To make the verses brightly grow

I drown the noise in quiet thought,

And work despite the to and fro,

To find the peace in words I sought.

Written as a huitain (pronounced wit-tain), a 15^th century 8-line strophe with 8-syllable lines (French) or 10-syllable lines (English). It used three rhymes with one of these appearing four times and with the same rhyme for the fourth and fifth lines. The huitain could be a stand-alone poem, or used as a unit in longer poems. Sometimes multiple poets would each supply hutains to make a longer piece.