The Old Oak Tree [Terzanelle]

When you took my hand under the old oak tree,
You whispered: "Baby, tonight we are finally free!"
When you took my hand under the old oak tree.

With a milky smile; you looked over at me,
And you grabbed my hand to lead me away,
Whispered: "Baby, tonight we are finally free!"

Solemnly I stand; with a black and white picture today,
As I think back to the day we discovered our wings -
And you lightly grabbed my hand to lead me away.

But their teardrops pull at my heartstrings,
And they pretend to know you the way that I did;
As I think back to the day we discovered our wings.

You, and only you; would capture the pain that I hid -
Away from everyone sitting within the crowd,
And they pretend to know you the way that I did.

Holding the wedding ring; I repeat the words you vowed -
When you took my hand under the old oak tree,
Away from everyone sitting within the crowd,
You whispered: "Baby, tonight we are finally free!"

-Jenna Elphick
June 21, 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.

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