Today was a hard writing day for me, so I decided to pick a poetry form and see if that would help guide my writing. I chose the Ae Freislighe or Irish quatrain.

The ae freislighe is a complex and intense form. Here are the guidelines: quatrain stanzas (4-line stanzas), 7 syllables per line, lines 1 and 3 rhyme together, but they rhyme as three syllables (xxa), lines 2 and 4 rhyme together as two syllables (xb), and the final line of the entire poem should be the same as the entire poem begins (the poetic term for this is dunadh).

Whew! I picked a good, hard form all right. Leave to the brilliant and resilient Irish to create this form.

As for news on the home front, everything is set with RIM having a bed for Trace. Now we wait and hope and pray that on Monday the insurance authorization will arrive.

She is improving everyday, but the function of her left leg (her previously good and strong leg) is still not very high. Her muscles are activating, but the weakness in her hip flexors prevent her from walking without difficulty.

But she is determined.

And strong.

Even in her weakness.

She inspires me to push through difficulties and to carry on courageously.

She is the face of brave to me.

Bravery

Bravery lives to clarify
that less strong is not weaker—
that strength seeks to satisfy
and to protect the seeker

of truth, the one courageous 
person whose strength is beyond 
ordinary—contagious
in every way. I respond—

the shy strength of fortitude
does bolster and dignify. 
So I say with gratitude:
Bravery lives to clarify.


—Carla Jeanne Picklo Jordan