soft grumbles

This is a rondeau redouble challenge from Janice. My first poem using this form. i have included the pattern for future reference. As you can see, this is a repetend. Repeating the first lines in the first stanza, making each line the last of succeeding stanzas. In some way, it is like a villanelle. Once you've created the first four lines, you are almost fifty percent finished. Enjoy!

My Last October

Let it rain hard on my 18th birthday (A1)
Bring me a storm with frightening thunder (B1)
And let my guests who come, not leave but stay (A2)
This may be my last month of October (B2)


I’ve thought hard in the park as I wander (b)
How I can make it the happiest day (a)
Then it came to me with matching laughter (b)
Let it rain hard on my 18th birthday (A1)


Let the morning sun be cheerful and gay (a)
When the party’s hot it wouldn’t matter (b)
And so my Lord, I beg of you and pray (a)
Bring me a storm with frightening thunder (B1)

Leaves on my trees need to bathe and launder (b)
So does the lawn that acquired dust in May (a)
Let it rain hard like I wished last summer (b)
And let my guests who come, not leave but stay (A2)


Let the sun hide in clouds heavy and gray (a)
Like a shy li’l boy opting to stay there (b)
Make the day be loaded with fun and play (a)
This may be my last month of October (B2)


Will He ever grant my wish, I wonder (b)
This ailment I got from whores on the bay (a)
Pirulent piss I had been bound to suffer (b)
Takes its toll and I better fade away (a)

on my eighteenth birthday (refrain)

The table is set,
your favorite chair
placed where it should be
at the kabisera where Papa always sits,
right where everyone can see you,
listen to your tales.

Pork adobo cooked with plenty of garlic
with matching shrimps cooked in tamarind soup
and kangkong leaves.
Fresh tomatoes blended with onions,
diced green mangoes and bagoong.

Grilled bangus stuffed with tomatoes
and white onions, wrapped in aluminum foil,
steaming hot rice with pandan leaves
send out aromas to satiate
your nostrils but making your taste buds
long for food.

Your room has been cleaned,
given fresh drapes, bed covers,
pillows and multi-colored blankets
from up north. The air con whirs at a steady pace
ready to give you comfort as soon
as you arrive.

As always, you're late.
No calls from Papa and Mama
waiting at the airport.

At one, the phone rings
and with a frightened, faltering
voice, Papa announces you're not
coming home,
forever


rolly