Baradah, the drying river (Quatern)

by Khalid M Darwish   Nov 4, 2012


Baradah, the drying river
would you send my spine a shiver?
I'm dying without you, my life
Near your riversides life is rife

For so long you've been a giver
Baradah, the drying river
Inside you, where I lost my shoes,
It's only you they've had to choose

Your water is disappearing
Will it be again appearing?
Baradah, the drying river
Secrets you always deliver

Baradah, I've drunk lots of you
and you engulfed things of me too
Of the full moon, you're a sliver
Baradah, the drying river

* QUATERN: A French form made of 16 lines, in four stanzas, each at four lines with a refrain.
8 syllable lines but rhyming and meter are at the writer's discretion.
The first line of the first stanza is the refrain. It repeats as the second line of the second stanza, the third line of the third stanza and the fourth line of the fourth stanza.

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Latest Comments

  • 12 years ago

    by Larry Chamberlin

    The issue becomes the 'secret' at that point. Give some thought to building the river as the source of a mystery. I would eliminate the shoe issue & use that space to introduce the mystery concept. Of course, this is merely my opinion.

  • 12 years ago

    by Larry Chamberlin

    Well done. Lines & syllables correct, refrain progresses properly. I like your rhythm also; your rhyme scheme is consistent, but I feel that some of your word choices feel like you forced the rhyme more than you wanted that particular word. Examples: life-rife, river-quiver, shoes-choose.

    May I suggest the following changes or considerations?

    Fourth line:
    "Near your riversides lives will rife"
    ^Try "life is rife"

    Eighth line:^
    "It's only you they've had to choose"
    ^ who has had to choose, why?

    Ninth line:
    "Your water, the disappearing"
    ^ drop the comma & change "the" to "is"

    Tenth line:
    "Will it be, again, appearing?"
    ^ drop the commas

    Twelfth line:
    "Secrets lie inside your quiver"
    ^ "quiver" is a hanging metaphor - you have no other connection to archery

    • 12 years ago

      by Khalid M Darwish

      Thank you Larry, I've made the changes accordingly.
      Inside you, where I lost my shoes,
      It's only you they've had to choose

      The word 'they' refers to the shoes. I meant the shoes have had chosen the river to fall in.
      For the twelfth line 'Secrets lie inside your quiver', I wonder if I can change it to read 'Secrets you always deliver', I need your opinion.

  • 12 years ago

    by Amreen

    Very good attempt sir... emotionally captivating because you depict the longingness of baradah to be perrenial again which once has been a splendid nature gift for you...
    Amazing:)

    • 12 years ago

      by Khalid M Darwish

      Thank you Amreen. You can't imagine how dear is Baradah river for me. There I spent most of my childhood and it's still carved in my memory.