Aubade Poem by Daniel Brick

The 'aubade' is a traditional poetic form, going back to the time of the Troubadours. It is a morning song a lover sings to his beloved before they part during the daylight hours. This sad parting makes it also a mourning song! I love traditional poetry, but I have not been successful in writing poetry in traditional meters, rhyme schemes, etc. So my version of an aubade is a free verse poem: it lacks the ancient form but conveys the ancient message. The second stanza also suggests the theme of love as sacrifice that makes many aubades tragic: '...our love/will burn up our lives.' Anyone who has read medieval, Renaissance, Romantic literature will recognize that tragic connection between Love and Death. Consider Tristan and Ysolt, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Heathcliff and Cathy. This is quite a lot of literary baggage for an eight-line poem! But I believe every poem we write has behind it the whole History of Poetry supporting and promoting it. As poets, each of us is never alone: there are all those who came before on one side and all those who read us now and in the future on the other side. That's why I joined this PoemHunter site - to be with all of you!