One shot rings out from a trigger happy gun
Countries at war not really knowing why
Blood seeping into the earth, who's won
As more gunshots are returned in reply.
And so the chaos spreads and so many die
Trust so fragile, now a broken thread
As we sit and wonder why, oh why
Many tears are now being shed.
Just one foolish moment and the ulcer spreads
No thought given to rippling effects
For now there seems merely disrespect
And across strange lands, foreign footfalls tread.
No thought given to rippling effects
Blood seeping into earth, who's won
And across strange lands, foreign footfalls tread
One shot rings out from a trigger happy gun.
Author notes
Prompt - The Butterfly Effect
Pantoum
The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines
of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a
new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing
quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.
The design is simple:
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5 (repeat of line 2)
Line 6
Line 7 (repeat of line 4)
Line 8
Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanzathen repeats the second and
fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of
the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first
line of the poem is also the last.
Last stanza:
Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza
In a list
A contest entry
- The Butterfly Effect by SeptemberFaith.
1400 points, ended December 22, 2008, 17 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please Tell Me What You Think
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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a good poem, ah war, will it ever end! perhaps in a few hundred years when we have calmed down a bit, if we make it that far.
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I think this is very well written... no one really wins a war..
People often dont think about the effect their actions have... even the smallest of actions.
Bravo,
Criss -
world wars begin with one gunshot,, very perceptive good luck x
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That Ulcer
It seems to be getting much larger
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So very true my dear, one gunshot starts a war and to that there is never an end to the suffering. You capture this with grace but with the grunt it deserves to make a reader stand up and take notice. Best to you in the contest
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