Frozen Dancers. [Terzanelle]

Frozen dancers lurch through the raven sky -
Watching over another pathetic fight,
Through a helpless little child's eyes.

Tears stream down as she holds her teddy tight,
Little palms held together, praying to God;
Watching over another pathetic fight.

And she finishes her prayer, starts to sob -
Wishing her Mother had the strength to walk away,
Little palms held together, praying to God.

Listening as a hand lands with dismay,
And she closes her eyes tight, plugs her ears;
Wishing her Mother had the strength to walk away.

In the morning, she's led through empty cans of beers, Sunglasses hiding her Mother's broken eyes,
And she closes her eyes tight, plugs her ears.

She watches the houses pass as she flies down back roads and -
Frozen dancers lurch through the raven sky,
Through a helpless little child's eyes;
Smiling for the first time as she holds her Mother's hand.

-Jenna Elphick
April 12, 2007

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The Terzanelle is a poetry type which is a combination of the villanelle and the terza rima forms. It is a 19-line poem consisting of five interlocking triplets/tercets plus a concluding quatrain in which the first and third lines of the first triplet appear as refrains. The middle line of each triplet is repeated, reappearing as the last line of the succeeding triplet with the exception of the center line of the next-to-the-last stanza which appears in the quatrain. Rhyme scheme is as follows: ABA bCB cDC dED eFE fAFA .. ending rhyme could also be fFAA. Each line should be the same metrical length.

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