Dovina5 Jul 2004

Note: The paradelle is one of the more demanding French fixed forms, first appearing in love poetry of the eleventh century. It’s a poem of four six-line stanzas in which the first and second lines, and the third and fourth lines, of the first three stanzas, must be identical. The fifth and sixth lines, which traditionally resolve these stanzas, must use all the words from the preceding lines and only those words. The final stanza must use every word from all the preceding stanzas and only those words.
Here I have presented only the first stanza, hoping to perfect all six stanzas into a monumental epitaph. I can then die having accomplished a worthy life’s mission.