Ponyville & Other Poems

by AugieDog

6 - Heart Like a Hummingbird (rondeau redouble')

Heart like a hummingbird caught in my chest,
Seeking a freedom so long overdue,
Graceful and sweeter and still loveliest:
Forested shadows call both me and you.

Sunrise. Another full day to get through.
Grin at it. Yes. Always give it your best.
Food for my friends, and a bit for me, too,
Heart like a hummingbird caught in my chest

Pushes me forward with resolute zest.
Sick room to sick room, a bandage or two,
Soothing their sleep, but you've no time to rest:
Seeking a freedom so long overdue,

Out of the house under sky's perfect blue!
Flit through the branches to each friendly nest,
Cheering the babies we coached as they grew
Graceful and sweeter and still loveliest.

Foxes and badgers when they get distressed
Cluster about us, and we lead them through
Sun-dappled meadows, our ears folded lest
Forested shadows call both me and you.

Glades in the distance, so peaceful a view,
No other ponies to frown, unimpressed.
Lovely—but lonely. I'd miss them, it's true.
Back, then, I turn, caging my dear depressed
Heart like a hummingbird.

Author's Note:

Fluttershy, like Rarity, needed a poem in one of the nutty and intricate "French forms." A rondeau, I decided wasn't baroque enough, so I went with the rondeau redouble'. I wanted to give her a rolling meter but one that also stuttered a bit, so it's a dactylic tetrameter with both its feet cut off to end each line on a solid thump.

Comments

[AugieDog]

Next up:

Pinkie Pie's epic rendition of How Equestria was Made!

Mike

[blank check]

3515635

Yespls

[HyperBlossom7]

Awwwwwwwwww, this one was kinda sad but it was beautiful! JUST BEAUTIFUL

In a good way that is

[AugieDog]

3515969

I promise:

That I will do my ding-dangedest not to let Pinkie turn it into some Pony version of Gustav Mahler's ever-so-slightly-depressing song-cycle "The Song of the Earth."

3519595

I'm gonna give Fluttershy a more cheerful one later, but this one had to be done first.

Mike

[Netkev]

I really enjoyed these, good work!

[AugieDog]

3533076

Thanks!

I've got a couple more planned, but then this whole poetry thing kinda took me by surprise, so I'll probably just keep it "Incomplete" so I can add things to it whenever the mood strikes me.

Mike

[Lurks-no-More]

Oh, beautiful poetry and a lovely look into Fluttershy's shy life.

[AugieDog]

3810789

I need to give her:

A more cheefrul one later. Maybe she and Discord can collaborate...

Mike

[Corejo]

Dactylic tetrameter. I love it, especially how you broke it on the final two lines to emphasize how she feels. This is my favorite of these so far (though I'm only six in, so that might change).

[AugieDog]

4243246

Thanks!

I'd never tried one of these redoubled rondeaus before this. In a regular rondeau, you get that little half line halfway through the poem, too, but in this kind, yeah, you get to save it till the very end.

Mike

[PresentPerfect]

I'm glad you experiment with all these nutty poetic forms, because some of them are pretty darn great. :D