11 I Shall Not Compromise

do tell me true or not at all
on this I shall not compromise
words were not meant to wear a guise
nor stand to build a great stone wall

within your spell you hope I’ll fall
through coated words that tantalize
but tell me true or not at all
on this I shall not compromise

don’t cast that gaze meant to enthrall
nor hide behind those pale blue eyes
my heart can’t take your twisted lies
I wager you should heed my call
do tell me true or not at all

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so i now round out (or should i say rond out) my poetic adventures by adding rondels to walk beside my rondelet and rondeau.  this is my somewhat so-so attempt on One Stop Poetry's Form Monday prompt.  it was definitely quite an adventure.  i had lines all over the place; eventually i melded them into couplets and then twisted those around until they seem to fit with some cohesive entity.  initially "my heart can't take your twisted lies" was the second half of the refrain, but inevitably i pushed it out and replaced it with "on this I shall not compromise."  i think it makes for a slightly stronger refrain. my only question at this moment is whether or not to make it a rondel prime (a.k.a. a french sonnet).


as i finally sat back i found myself completely drained.  counting syllables (especially in iambic) really takes a toll.  when i realized i had yet to think about Jingle Poetry's Poetry Potluck [lies, deception, and misrepresentation], well i admit i was far from excited to delve into another poem.  i thought about posting act IV of my ballad (seeing as how it was unlikely that many people would come across this tale that has taken quite a toll on me and is far from done), but i have this thing about adhering to the theme even if they are not overly picky about deviations.  So as this wild diatribe is going on in my head it suddenly dawns on me that the rondel actually fits this week's theme.  so those of you at Jingle Poetry can count yourself blessed that you will not get sucked into my epic ballad.