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Insomnia Kyrielle

The stars above have gone to bed,
their quilt of clouds a calming sweep
as moonlight strokes their tossing heads:
O lord have mercy, let me sleep!

Here in this dark I lie awake.
The cliff of slumber is so steep
I cannot find a path to take.
O lord have mercy, let me sleep!

The night gapes open like a jaw,
its well of wretchedness so deep
no rope can lift me from this maw.
O lord have mercy, let me sleep!

The first light comes, the sparrows stir,
the mourning doves wake from their sleep.
The cat begins to groom her fur.
O lord have mercy, let me sleep!

These broken nights yield broken days:
a painful harvest I must reap.
The bluest light is soon a blaze.
Is there no mercy? Let me sleep!

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Mourning Triolet

Below a sky blank-white with grief
the poppies raise their heads of fire.

The black-clad mourners seek belief
below a sky blank-white with grief—

but this, their plea for love’s relief
is just a wave that lifts no higher

beneath a sky blank-white with grief
as poppies raise their heads of fire.

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Lisa Majaj is the author of Geographies of Light, which won the Del Sol Press poetry prize. Her poetry and essays have been widely published throughout the United States and elsewhere, and her work has been translated into 6 languages. She lives in Nicosia, Cyprus.

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17 Responses

  1. Paddy Raghunathan

    Two very heartfelt poems, and they are beautiful to read.

    Congrats.

    Paddy

    Reply
  2. Paul Erlandson

    This are WONDERFUL, Lisa!

    Insomnia Kyrielle in particular seems very natural. You make it seem effortless, though I’m sure it wasn’t. I don’t suffer very often from insomnia. But when I do, it is EXACTLY as you describe!

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Lisa

      Thank you Paul! The poem wasn’t effortless, but it was easier than the insomnia!

      Reply
  3. Mary Gardner

    Lisa, you are an artist with words. Despite the fiery colors of the poppies, “Mourning Triolet” is bleak – as it should be.

    Reply
    • Lisa

      Thank you Mary. Yes, I needed that poem to be exactly as bleak as it is…..

      Reply
  4. Nathan McKee

    Lisa, I can sympathize with your vivid poem on insomnia! My rule of thumb is, if I try to sleep for 45 minutes without success, I give up and go read for 45 minutes or so, preferably in Latin or Greek (to tire out my brain faster). This usually does just the trick.

    Reply
  5. Paul Freeman

    Yep, that insomnia is one heck of a thing and you’ve captured its insidiousness exactly, Lisa.

    Reply
  6. Roy Eugene Peterson

    I like the repetition of the last line of each “Insomnia Kyrielle verse.” It felt like counting sheep to me with the last one showing exasperation.

    Reply
  7. Margaret Coats

    Lisa, these poems bring beautifully appropriate images to enhance your skillful use of each fair form. The insomnia piece is a classic kyrielle, using “have mercy” as refrain in accord with the name of the form. The succession of stanzas (each lovely and easy to understand) comes to a conclusion with requisite alteration of the refrain emphasizing the emotional effect of the whole. In the triolet, I admire how “the sky blank-white with grief,” in line 7, serves to block heaven against the mourners’ “plea for love’s relief.” This is certainly what happens to bereaved persons at the stage where they are overwhelmed with grief, and find belief difficult. Good work.

    Reply
  8. Cynthia Erlandson

    I love the images you use to describe insomnia: moonlight stroking the heads of the clouds; the cliff of slumber; the well of wretchedness (carried through with the wish to be lifted out of the well with a rope). “Mourning Triolet” is also very beautiful, particularly the musicality of the slightly varied, repeated lines, and the stark color contrasts of the white sky with the black mourning clothes and the fire-colored poppies.

    Reply
  9. Joshua C. Frank

    Lisa, both of these are wonderful! They describe their respective emotions very well, and you’ve chosen the perfect forms and made the forms seem effortless, which I know is very hard to do! Plus I love the images you’ve used; normally, I try to pick a favorite line, but all of yours are so good, I can’t decide.

    I look forward to seeing more of your work here.

    Reply
    • Lisa

      Thank you! I’m quite new to formal poetry, and new to this forum. I look forward to reading everyone’s work here and hopefully participating with more poems myself!

      Reply

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