Rhyme’s Purpose by Lisa McCabe

Rhyme’s Purpose

A poem starts with what you know;
The familiar path is seldom wrong.
Rhyme leads you where you fear to go.

Meter takes you fast or slow,
The steady beat, your heart’s own song;
A poem starts with what you know

But wanders Vivacissimo.
Enjambment breaks the line along
Sheer cliffs of where you dare not go

To what lies deep beneath the snow,
Frozen, still, a sounding gong.
You scurry back to what you know.

Metaphor sets a phrase aglow,
A light to follow, steady, strong.
It points you where you dread to go;

A darkened land where no wind blows,
The end stopped place where you belong.
A poem starts with what you know.
Rhyme leads you where you fear to go.

by Lisa McCabe

Twitter: @LAHMCCABE

Editor’s Note: This delightful villanelle leads the reader on a exploration of poetry via form (rhyme, meter) and metaphor, but it is the imagery that truly speaks to the heart.