Elizabeth Bishop's Sestina is one of my favorite poems. It always reminded me of my own grandmother and grandfather. How years have gone by and now that they have passed away. This poem gave me a glimpse of my own early childhood, sitting by my grandparents and playing with them.
Tonight I wrote my version of Sestina in memory of my own grandparents with whom I have spent my first six years in the ancient capital city of Yangzhou.
Sestina
by Light Boat (updated version with the correct Sestina structure)
September
In the
sit in the kitchen with the child.
The swallows are chirping away,
leaving for the south with their nests behind.
Time for the winter, grandfather remarks.
He
will cause attention in the house,
but the child is dreaming on the chairs behind.
She sees the dust in the twilight, over the grandparents;
the dust
while grandmother finds some peanuts for the child.
It's time for peanuts; but the child
thinks of the candies, and she remarks,
I
with the sound of the
Checking in the cabinet, and the old grandparents,
cheerfully,
The child wipes
taking the candy and savoring as a child,
twinkling are the
I
Now the moon starts to climb up over the house,
feeling chilly, and winter is not far away.
Do you know, says the grandfather, your parents are far away.
I know what you say,
With
Grandfather can teach you how to tie a slipknot, and the child
learns to tie
Happily,
But secretly, while the grandparents
busy
the
I
blending them into the loving sight of a child,
and
Put away the string,
candies are sweet, thinks the child while the string is
I
Sestina
by Light Boat (Original Version)
September
In the
sits in the kitchen with the child
The Swallows are chirping away
leaving for the south with their nests behind,
Time for the winter, grandfather remarks.
He
will cause attention of his wife and the child
but the child is dreaming and wandering
the dust in the sunshine, which swirls above
The dust dances in the light, the child discovers
Grandmother finds some peanuts for the child.
It's time for peanuts; but the child
thinks of the candies that she missed at the uncle's wedding
Candies
her way while the dust dances around
Checking in the cabinet, and the old grandmother
cheerfully, she
The child wipes
sucking
with sweet delight of grandmother's twinkling eyes
and her bag still full of fresh picked peanuts.
The moon starts to climb up the sky
feeling chilly, and winter is not far away.
Do you know, says the grandfather, your parents are far away.
I know what you say,
With
Let me teach you how to tie a slipknot, Grandfather says
"You tie once and then fold one end to make
he
But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself cooking the dinner,
the
brightening the faces of grandparents
all blend into the loving sight of the night
and they are
The grandmother adds
and the grandfather puts away the string
Candies are sweet, says the child.
Tonight I wrote my version of Sestina in memory of my own grandparents with whom I have spent my first six years in the ancient capital city of Yangzhou.
Sestina
by Light Boat (updated version with the correct Sestina structure)
In the
sit in the kitchen with the child.
The swallows are chirping away,
leaving for the south with their nests behind.
Time for the winter, grandfather remarks.
He
will cause attention in the house,
but the child is dreaming on the chairs behind.
She sees the dust in the twilight, over the grandparents;
the dust
while grandmother finds some peanuts for the child.
It's time for peanuts; but the child
thinks of the candies, and she remarks,
I
with the sound of the
Checking in the cabinet, and the old grandparents,
cheerfully,
The child wipes
taking the candy and savoring as a child,
twinkling are the
I
Now the moon starts to climb up over the house,
feeling chilly, and winter is not far away.
Do you know, says the grandfather, your parents are far away.
I know what you say,
With
Grandfather can teach you how to tie a slipknot, and the child
learns to tie
Happily,
But secretly, while the grandparents
busy
the
I
blending them into the loving sight of a child,
and
Put away the string,
candies are sweet, thinks the child while the string is
I
Sestina
by Light Boat (Original Version)
In the
sits in the kitchen with the child
The Swallows are chirping away
leaving for the south with their nests behind,
Time for the winter, grandfather remarks.
He
will cause attention of his wife and the child
but the child is dreaming and wandering
the dust in the sunshine, which swirls above
The dust dances in the light, the child discovers
Grandmother finds some peanuts for the child.
It's time for peanuts; but the child
thinks of the candies that she missed at the uncle's wedding
Candies
her way while the dust dances around
Checking in the cabinet, and the old grandmother
cheerfully, she
The child wipes
sucking
with sweet delight of grandmother's twinkling eyes
and her bag still full of fresh picked peanuts.
The moon starts to climb up the sky
feeling chilly, and winter is not far away.
Do you know, says the grandfather, your parents are far away.
I know what you say,
With
Let me teach you how to tie a slipknot, Grandfather says
"You tie once and then fold one end to make
he
But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself cooking the dinner,
the
brightening the faces of grandparents
all blend into the loving sight of the night
and they are
The grandmother adds
and the grandfather puts away the string
Candies are sweet, says the child.
Sestina
by Elizabeth Bishop
September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.
She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,
It's time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle's small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tidying up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac
on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.
It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the almanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmother.
But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house.
Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.
sestina 六行诗 介绍：
A sestina (also, sextina, sestine, or sextain) is a highly structured poem consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a tercet (called its envoy or tornada), for a total of thirty-nine lines. The same set of six words ends the lines of each of the six-line stanzas, but in a different order each time; if we number the first stanza's lines 123456, then the words ending the second stanza's lines appear in the order 615243, then 364125, then 532614, then 451362, and finally 246531. This organization is referred to as retrogradatio cruciata ("retrograde cross"). These six words then appear in the tercet as well, with the tercet's first line usually containing 1 and 2, its second 3 and 4, and its third 5 and 6 (but other versions exist, described below).
