a/n: inspired by "The Adventure of the Retired Colourman". A terzanelle.
Holmes and companions do not belong to me. Many thanks to ennui enigma and Zaydee.
POV of Dr Watson.
Lunatics, Lovers and Poets
I start my full description of the case;
Holmes tells me it's not relevant at all
For poetry, he argues, has no place.
~0~
I tell him of the lichen on the wall;
I try to be as detailed as I can;
Holmes tells me it's not relevant at all.
~0~
I went to see the broken colour man;
And Holmes expects a full and clear report;
I try to be as detailed as I can.
~0~
There's more to observation than I thought;
His wooden leg completely passed me by;
And Holmes expects a full and clear report
~0~
I cannot please my comrade, though I try;
I told him of fresh paint on hall and door;
His wooden leg completely passed me by.
~0~
He's certain that I could have learned much more;
Seen neighbours, talked to tradesmen, asked around;
I told him of fresh paint on hall and door.
~0~
A strong room kept his savings safe and sound,
Now vanished, Holmes would clearly have moved on;
Seen neighbours, talked to tradesmen, asked around
~0~
His love, his friend, his future have all gone;
He mourns the things which brightened up his life,
Now vanished, Holmes would clearly have moved on
~0~
To theatre tickets, bought to please his wife
He said he'd gone alone the night she left;
He mourns the things which brightened up his life.
~0~
A man consumed with grief, a soul bereft;
As Holmes begins to check his story out;
He said he'd gone alone the night she left.
~0~
An alibi destroyed, a growing doubt,
A definite suspicion taking seed.
As Holmes begins to check the story out,
~0~
A murderous alternative indeed.
The paint designed to throw me off the scent;
A definite suspicion taking seed.
~0~
A burglary reveals his mad intent;
A strong room; gas-filled pipes, two lovers trapped;
The paint designed to throw me off the scent.
~0~
A dreadful crime which Holmes has neatly wrapped;
While I, and client, take the Essex train;
A strong room; gas filled pipes, two lovers trapped.
~0~
Holmes' search reveals a plot that's far from sane;
A gripping tale of jealousy and rage;
While I, and client, take the Essex train.
~0~
As lunatics and lovers fill my page;
I write a full report upon this case;
A gripping tale of jealousy and rage
Where poetry, I'd argue, has its place.
~0~
a/n2: a terzanelle is a recently invented form-a cross between a villanelle and a terza rima. Second line of one three line verse becomes the third line of the next. Last 4 lines include third line of the first.
a/n3: "The lunatic, the lover and the poet
Are of imagination all compact:
One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name. "
-Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream-William Shakespeare-