Ambedo

23. Quilted

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Of travellers in some shady haunt;
For men may come and men may go,
But I have promises to keep

I come from haunts of coot and hern,
With a heart for any fate;

I murmur under moon and stars,
Breaking the silence of the seas;

I wind about, and in and out,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main;

By many a field and fallow,
I saw her singing at her work

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
The music in my heart I bore

I make the netted sunbeam dance,
Stop here, or gently pass

I move the sweet forget-me-nots,
In the bivouac of Life,

And sparkle out among the fern,
Still achieving, still pursuing

And out again I curve and flow,
Among Arabian sands;
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And miles to go before I sleep

And that was a Cento - which was super fun to write. I hope you enjoyed reading it.

CENTO - From the Latin word for "patchwork," the cento (or collage poem) is a poetic form composed entirely of lines from poems by other poets.

Early examples can be found in the work of Homer and Virgil.

Modern centos are often witty, creating irony or humor from the juxtaposition of images and ideas. Two examples of contemporary centos are "The Dong with the Luminous Nose," by John Ashbery and Peter Gizzi's "Ode: Salute to the New York School." Ashbery's cento takes its title from the poem of the same name by Edward Lear and weaves together an unlikely array of voices, including Gerard Manley Hopkins, T. S. Eliot, and Lord Byron. Gizzi employed the form to create a collage of voices, as well as a bibliography, from the New York School poets.

My Cento used four of my favourite poems :-)