What Rhymes With…?

Good morning everyone. We are having a very spring-like week here on the prairie with temps around 0 C and we’re all enjoying it. Our cats have “cabin fever”; they are constantly at the door begging to go outside and see if anything interesting is going on out there. Much better for all of us than looking out on a snow storm. 🙂

The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is RHYME, one of my favorite words and concepts. If you’ve followed me for awhile, you’ll know that I’m fond of poetry. I have memorized a number of poems to recite to myself at night when I can’t sleep, and verses that rhyme are great for this.

When I’m trying to write a rhyming verse, I often find myself searching for a suitable word to match my line ending. That’s when I turn to Rhymer.com and search through their lists. I find this online site an invaluable aid in my versifying. Merriam-Webster also has a rhyming dictionary on their site, and I use their thesaurus constantly.

While free-verse poetry that explores feelings and situations can be poignant, I tend to prefer poems that end on an encouraging note, rather than simply spilling the speaker’s angst or lost-love disappointment. Some writers have packed a lot of wisdom and wit into an inspiring verse or two. Here’s one example, but I don’t know who wrote it:

If all that we say in a single day, with never a word left out,
were printed each night in clear black and white
‘Twould prove strange reading, no doubt.
And then, just suppose, ‘ere our eyes we could close,
we must read the whole record through.
Then wouldn’t we sigh, and wouldn’t we try
a great deal less talking to do?
And I more than half think that many a kink
would be smoother in life’s tangled thread
if half that we say in a single day
were left forever unsaid.