Terza Rima
ABA/BCB/CDC, etc.
Iambic Pentameter
i.
Magician drawing power from below
While mastering the material plane
Lemniscat hovering in skyward flow.
ii.
High Priestess of patience reflects no pain
Pillar of moonbeam guiding emotion
Amid lunar cycles that wax and wane.
iii.
Empress the Mother, full of devotion
Stars circle her head in a field of corn
Radiating her own loving potion.
iv.
The Emperor has no reason to mourn
Learning to govern his passions in life
A strong-willed rose protected by a thorn.
v.
Hierophant plowing through religious strife
Attempting order in chaotic thought
Bloodying alternatives with his knife.
vi.
Lovers begin as two souls who are taught
To complement each other’s desire
Beware of choices two separates have brought.
vii.
Chariot pulled by water and fire
Decisions spread before us like a feast
Free will to choose the dry road or the mire.
viii.
Self-respecting Strength battling with the beast
Confidently in balance on her own
Challenging uproar until it has ceased.
ix.
Introspective Hermit searching alone
Reasoning out a secret, karmic sin
Knowledgeable, yet there’s more to be known.
x.
The Wheel of Fortune continues to spin
Voluntary change from within shines bright
By embracing acceptance we can win.
xi.
Justice’s upright sword pierces the light
Objective judgment relentless as ice
Illuminates the confusion of night.
xii.
The Hanged Man is glowing with sacrifice
Absorbing all knowledge through sight and sound
To suffer for wisdom is a small price.
xiii.
Death tramples rich and poor into the ground
Old life is gone but a new one will start
The cycle is endless, all comes around.
xiv.
Temperance is harmony from the heart
Balance and good humor pours from the core
Purification—a fine counterpart.
xv.
The Devil may tempt into a detour
Imagined bondage and fear are the norms
Follow karmic paths and resist the lure.
xvi.
The Tower collapses all the old forms
Yet the flashes of insight prevent doom
Releasing shadows from gathering storms.
xvii.
Inspiration and hope are the Star’s bloom
Threading optimism much more concrete
Weaving new aspirations on its loom.
xviii.
The Moon disintegrates the ego’s heat
Compassion battles with insecure fears
Intuition keeps time with a heartbeat.
xix.
The Sun’s radiant warmth uplifts and cheers
Good health and material goals bring mirth
A joyous outcome will bathe the next years.
xx.
Judgment rewards with a wondrous rebirth
Gifting the future for yesterday’s deeds
Inner knowing oozes up from the earth.
xxi.
Completion, perfection are the World’s needs
Four directions converge in the center
Breaking free from the stranglehold of weeds.
o.
Balanced, centered, the Fool is a mentor
Innocently bathed in love’s mighty glow
Faith has sustained life’s experimenter.
*
***Tarot cards tell us what deep down we know***
(c) 1991, 2013 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
Madame Sosostris Explains (a poetry patchwork)
poeturja 