Friday, January 27, 2012

'Three Sisters'

A response to a writing challenge from Poetic Asides: Poetry Form - TheTritina.


 

‘Three Sisters’


It’s hard to keep the faith
With chances slim, and hope –
A dying candle.  Love

Is what sustains us.  Love,
Awakening the faith,
Life breathing into hope.

Soon burning flames of hope
Will join the fiery love,
And set alight the faith.

Three sisters: Faith, Hope, Love.



Live for the Love of it,
The Happy Amateur

41 comments:

  1. Ooooo! Nice! Trying to tackle the Tritina now (not so comfy with the formal forms). I just wanted to say I am now enjoying your work on several different sites. I understand the "Happy," but would like to respectfully disagree with the "Amateur" part. You are a gifted poet. Thank you for sharing your words with me.

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    1. Thank you, De! You're too kind really, but anyway I want to defend the 'amateur' part of my 'name' :-) all the connotations of amateur apply to me, but my absolute favorite is 'lover' that goes to the root of the word. I'm fine with just Happy for short, but I'll keep the Amateur to remind myself of my motto: Live for the Love of it!
      Thanks again!

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    2. Ahhhh! Seeing that now in your header. Wonderful! :)

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  2. This is a true delight and inspiration!

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  3. Well crafted. I like the way you've brought it all together in the last stanza :)

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  4. isn't it awesome how the three work hand in hand..i like that you paint them as sisters as well...nice

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  5. Thank you, Claudia.
    Sof'ya (Sophia) and her three daughters - Vera(Faith), Nadezhda (Hope) and Lyubov' (Love or Charity) - are Christian martyrs and Saints. The day they are commemorated - September 30th - is a very important day for Russian Orthodox Church.

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  6. nice...you work the form well...and that is pretty cool ont he background in the above comment as well...did not realize that about the daughters....they do go hand in hand conceptually as well...

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  7. I'd love to know who their parents are... = )

    You make it look so easy!

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    1. Their mother is "Wisdom" (Sof'ya or Sophia.) Have to admit, know nothing about the father... I'm actually curious now, I wonder if he's mentioned anywhere.

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    2. Forgot to thank you for your comment, Laurie :-)

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  8. Thank you, Brian, glad you liked it.

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  9. I like the way you've connected the concepts of faith, hope, and love. This is a nice poem.

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  10. This is so good, using the three virtues. And I love the Icon you chose to feature. Nicely done.

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  11. I like the weaving of the three, faith, hope and love ~ Well done with the form ~

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  12. It's rare to see a spiritual theme in this kind of structure, but you did it, and what a great choice of end-words, every single one works to bolster the theme.

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    1. Faith, hope and love are beautiful words.
      Thank you for your comment.

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  13. Well written, esp the closure. Fine work!

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  14. Fantastic. Everything flowing, nothing forced or unnatural to comply with the demands of the form. A real gem of a poem. Beautiful.

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  15. Interesting how pre Christian thinking and symbolism is incorporated in to Christian iconography . And a good play with the form

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    1. The icon depicts Christian martyrs, but the concepts of Faith, Hope and Love precede Christianity. It is interesting.
      Thank you for visiting.

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  16. Great choice of words to start with...and great execution...

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  17. now these three remain; faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love.

    Thank you for a wonderful, uplifting poem. I really enjoyed it.

    Tony

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  18. All the threes :)
    Faith, hope and love... used to be Charity, many a vicar's daughter's name. Smiles.

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    1. Yes, Love or Charity. Charity sounds good, too :-)
      I like Faith, Hope and Love, though.

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  19. Beautiful construction within the form. Every line reinforces the content and the poetic form. Elegant, refined, spiritual!

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  20. Nicely done ... this isn't the easiest form and I so like how succinctly you've managed to do such a lovely tritina ...

    http://leapinelephants.blogspot.ca/2012/08/desperately-missing-you-who-are-gone.html

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  21. There is a complete circle here. You made this form look smooth and easy. A lovely write!

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  22. the first stanza is positively beautiful. (odd when you consider the content, but still...)

    in the end, not only beautiful, but uplifting.

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