Icebergs

One of the things I tried to do last year was to get a grip on some of the different forms of poetry there are - rondeaus, villanelles etc, and I tried a lot of these out on poems written for my parents. Here's one for my mum's birthday, it's a villanelle.


Icebergs

I’d give you the dew at the break of day,
the sweetest nips of clover,
the icebergs calving in the bay

some rich and broken music you could play,
the smell when the rain comes over,
I’d give you the dew at the break of day

a linen tablecloth for you to lay,
a song from a bothy drover,
the icebergs calving in the bay

these riches for your birthday,
silver from your lover,
I’d give you the dew at the break of day

and glorious things from all the world away
here for you to discover,
the icebergs calving in the bay

the brightest flowers growing from the clay
a feather from a plover,
I’d give you the dew at the break of day,
the icebergs calving in the bay.