This Silent Moon is a ballade with double refrain based on a traditional Zen story. Anyone familiar with the ballade format can tell you I’ve only mostly followed the rules.
I would be interested to hear your comments, especially if you’ve written a ballade with double refrain or know of good examples.
This Silent Moon
A monk met a thief on the road to White Thay
Who brandished a mace as he strode ‘cross the snow.
“Your purse and your coat, and you’ll live yet a day.
Bright gold I must have, though it prove my soul’s woe.”
Said the monk to the thief, “Pray, withhold your blow.
I’ll give you my garments, and with them this boon.
There shines Selene against the night’s indigo.
If I could, I would give you this silent moon.”
The Red Elves dwell in the darkest parts of the forest where venomous snakes and spiders abound. They fortify ancient ruins with their wooden palisades and distil wicked poisons from the local flora and fauna. They are more than happy to sell vials of spider venom and dried boughs from the scarlet fever trees they cultivate, but let the adventurer be warned! The Red Elves will not hesitate to murder and rob the unwary, and a Red Elf witch never goes far without her escort of goblin archers.
Chronicler's Note: 