Discovered Upon a Midnight Clear – 7th December – Double Dribble

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Happy holidays, everyone!





Angels Standing Near
by Melanie Athene




I know this isn’t the happy ending fairy tales promise
The life we lead is hard and probably fleeting
I never thought I’d find love standing near
Never thought I’d find love at all
But somehow love has found me
And I embrace the nights
Thanking my lucky stars
That an angel’s
Blessed my
Life

Let
The wild
Storms rage on
While the halo of
His hair tickles my nose
In the darkest days of winter
My heart has found peace at last
All I never knew I wanted, suddenly mine
And though it easily could slip though my fingers
I wouldn’t trade a single moment of this precious time






Title: Angels Standing Near
Author: melanieathene
Slash or Gen: Slash
Archive at ProsLib/Circuit: Sure
Disclaimer: Bodie and Doyle belong to each other. Always have, always will.

Notes: In which the notes are longer than the story :)

"What is a dribble?" you might well ask. It's a form of poetry, for lack of a better name, which has ten lines: ten words in the first line, nine in the second, and so on down to one word in the last line. (55 words in total). To double it you do the reverse: start with 1 word and end with 10. (110 words in total) This strict structure is quite visually pleasing. The image looks like an hourglass if you centre it.

I first ran across the dribble on LiveJournal in 2005. I don’t think it ever became all that widespread (it is surprisingly hard to do), but I do love a challenge, and it seemed the next step up from crafting drabbles with their 100 word limitation.

Many thanks to cali_se for the beta

Comments

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

Very unusual.
But it is touching!

Thank you for this (for me) new experience! :-)

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

I wanted to do something different this year. I guess a dribble is pretty different. :)

Thanks for reading!

[krisserci5.livejournal.com]

The words are lovely and combined with the visual of slipping time was awesome! Thanks:)

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

I'm glad you liked the word/hourglass combination.

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Oh, very nice! Just right for them, and I love the words, but I also really like the form. I am not familiar with a "dribble", so thank you for the explanation. Cool! That does sound like a very fun challenge. You did an excellent job with it. Thank you!

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

I figured people might need an explanation. :)

Glad you enjoyed the poem.

[milomaus.livejournal.com]

Looks so very cool and is so very touching!
I love it!

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the poem.

[ali15son.livejournal.com]

beautifully done with such meaningful words....thankyou.

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[macklingirl.livejournal.com]

That is a totally new version of poetry for me. But it is an interesting style.

And the words you used say so much. Thank you for this.

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

I think this is only the third double dribble I've ever written, the other two being in the Lord of the Rings fandom. I love how the words seem to trickle down like sand through an hourglass.

Thank you for reading!

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Does it make me a philistine, if I think that looks like a bow tie?

Lovely poem, though (and no, it wouldn't surprise me at all that dribbles are hard to do!).

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Nope. I can see that. You just have to turn your head. Can also be seen as angel wings then. :)

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

That is very neat. I like it a lot. Thanks!

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked it!

[cloudless-9193.livejournal.com]

This is beautiful!

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[sagittas.livejournal.com]

Beautiful choice of words. They leave an even more bittersweet taste thanks to this hourglass figure.

[jat-sapphire.livejournal.com]

Yes, a good shape poem has the RIGHT shape, and the hourglass is just right for this one.

[jat-sapphire.livejournal.com]

I didn't count the words, but I'm reminded of George Herbert's "Easter Wings" (https://www.ccel.org/h/herbert/temple/Easterwings.html) (because I'm an old English Major).

(this link has a birdsong popup, in case anyone can't bear that.)

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Hello, fellow English Major. :) Thanks for the link to Easter Wings. It's a lovely shape-poem.

This dribble can also be seen as angel wings if you tilt your head to the side. Works if the poem is left justified too.

[freetraveller15.livejournal.com]

Oh my... I just love how the 'shape' of a dribble and the "angels" theme go together. Angel wings indeed. And a beautiful, evocative poem. Thank you x

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

A tribute to an angel called Angelfish. :)

So glad to hear you enjoyed the poem.

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

It's a new form to me - very well done!

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I was looking to do something different this year, and was pleased that a dribble came to mind.

[cyanne]

I image it must be really difficult to write to get all the words to line up correctly and still get across what you want to say. Really lovely imagery in this and I like how comfortable they are with each other.

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

It can be very challenging. As well as the word count, you have to consider the length of each line to keep the hourglass true to form. You can fudge the line length a bit, but not too much. And the word count, of course, can't be varied at all.

Glad you enjoyed the poem!

[loxleyprince.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous! Beautiful sentiments, beautifully expressed, and oh how pretty that the words make angel wings! Brava! :-)

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the lovely comment!

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

Very well done - perfect words and the format of the poem just adds to the sentiment. I love this!

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I'm very glad you enjoyed the poem.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of a dribble, but I like it! And I can imagine that it would be hard to get the lines just right, so well done for that too! I like how you bring it back to time slipping away, mirroring it's hourglass shape too - very clever! *g*

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

The dribble had a brief heyday back in 2005 -- mostly in in the Lord of the Rings fandom, I think. And then it vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. This is only the third one I have ever written. I wanted to do something different this year, and my muse happily cooperated.

I'm glad you enjoyed the poem, and thank you for including me in the challenge again this year.

[cornishcat.livejournal.com]

Verrrry nice. The words flow beautifully and the sentiment is lovely. Thank you.

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the poem.

[cali-se.livejournal.com]

So pretty! It was a really good decision to centre it, Mel. The hourglass shape works so well with the theme.

And yay for bringing dribbles to a wider audience! :D

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Cali. I thought the subject and shape really suited each other.

Maybe this will inspire a dribble renaissance. :)

Thank you for all your help and encouragement, my dear beta. *hugs*

[airelle1.livejournal.com]

Lovely format and lovely poem. Looks hard to do though. I may try my hand at it myself later. Thanks for letting us know about it (funnily, I wrote a drabble called "the dribble drabble", but it had nothing to do with this format, and everything to do with a dribbling faucet, LOL).

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

LOL! That is a funny coincidence!

The dribble is challenging, a double dribble doubly so, but I encourage you to give it a try. It's a very pretty form for a poem to take.

[kiwisue.livejournal.com]

The internet of things is (surprisingly?) unclear about dribbles! But I do like this word form. Nice subject, and a very pleasing result.

[melanieathene.livejournal.com]

ismenin coined the word and set up the rules in 2005 -- unless she saw it elsewhere and decided to introduce it to LJ? Sadly, she is no longer with us, so we can't ask her.

Sorry for the late reply, I somehow missed seeing your comment till now.