Cliché
Hackneyed, outworn,
Sighing, mourning, why-ing
Penned expressions of emotion
Human
*
It is, they say, just a cliché
To pen a mournful verse,
An ode to love, a billet doux,
A burning flame…or worse…
And yet, the universal pen
Of lovers everywhere
Turns first to rhyme and doggerel
When seeking words of care.
Perhaps the poet and the heart
Have gone too deep for skill
And with emotion’s misaimed sword
Their own expressions kill?
Sometimes a cliché’s all that works
… The rose and turtle dove…
To confine hearts to paper words
(Or find a rhyme for ‘love’).
Do not dismiss the doggerel;
Within outmoded form,
The heart that seeks the words to speak
Is genuine and warm.
Although the words are shaped awry
And though the phrases pall,
The love they hold is not cliché’d
But at the heart of all.
(Cinquain for Colleen’s poetry challenge)
Viv Drewa - The Owl Lady 