Casual form: Lisa Marshall, ‘Lust’

Under the moonlight’s magical hold
Lust prowls like a wolf, hungry and bold

Slinking by with a wink of the eye
Slowly drawing me in on the sly

Into temptation’s cunning allure
Tainting even the purest of pure

Whispered confessions into the wind
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned

*****

Editor’s comments: I’m classifying these lines as ‘casual form’: the meter is undisciplined by classical standards, but the beat is clear and the rhymes are straightforward. The verse is as natural to English as nursery rhymes, noted for their ease of memorisation without being classically regular. Look at the varying numbers of syllable per foot in the four lines of ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, for example. English speech is very forgiving regarding unstressed syllables, while still maintaining a rhythmic flow – as we know from rap. By that standard, adherence to beat and structured rhyme is adherence to form.

Lisa Marshall is a poet and author who resides in beautiful Dartmouth, Nova Scotia – also known as the City of Lakes.  She is the author of Black Olive: A Novel and Poetry for the Feminist’s Soul, both of which are available on Amazon Kindle. 
Read more at Not Another Nice Girl Blog.

Photo: from Lisa Marshall’s blog.