Kyrielle Notes

Dating from the Middle Ages the Kyrielle was once a very popular French form. Written in quatrains with the last line of each quatrains as a refrain. Each line consists of eight syllables.

The rhyme scheme is
aabB ccbB ddbB and so on

Example

Jamie’s Song by JezzieG

We walked through the gilded gateway
Towards the moonlit castle keep
Without a word, nothing to say
Here where the black-winged dragons sleep

As silent as Death’s last whisper
We slowly move in the night creep
The night singed, her breath crisper
Here where the black-winged dragons sleep

And we fall to our knees inside
The door before her eyes can weep
In silver light no place to hide
Here where the black-winged dragons sleep

The moon sparkles upon her wings
The power of flight within their sweep
And we tremble over these things
Here where the black-winged dragons sleep

The fear that on our tongues we taste
In saline sweetness feel it seep
Like dark-robed children we make haste
Here where the black-winged dragons sleep

Too late! Leathered lids slowly rise
The flames of amber start to leap
In her eyes, her welcoming eyes
Here where the black-winged dragons sleep

Our time has come at last tonight
The dragon children cannot weep
But now must spread their wings in flight
Here where the black-winged dragons sleep