Carol of the Bells

Theme: Bells. Could be bells or belles. Door bells, church bells, 'with bells on,' --any kind of bells--but used in conjunction with Christmas
Required words: stargazing, meander, etiquette, break, jump, ring.
Forbidden words: fly, wing, chime.
Additional parameters: any form (state form with link to how that form works) as long as it is at least 24 lines long. (Do a double or triple if necessary!)




Carol of the Bells


My grandmother, Annie would take me out stargazing of a winter's night,
pointing out constellations by name; telling me their stories.
Christmas Eve, she'd take me out to the lake to listen for the bells--
for they were the singing of the Christmas Star.
I always listened as I scanned the sky, and I listened very hard.
Annie said I could not hear them with my ears; but only with my heart.

I didn't understand that then, didn't know how to hear with my heart.
Year after year, my grandmother and I would be out there Christmas Eve night.
Annie would show me that special star and talk of meandering things. Hard
as I was always afraid I'd miss something more important than her stories.
Still, every year, she'd come and together we watched for that special star.
I even asked Santa once, but all those years on our mountain, I never heard the bells.

One year, she showed me her collection: from 'round the globe she'd found special bells.
An school bell from the one-room school house where mom had left a carved heart
on the coatroom wall. Brass Bells from Sajjan Singh Sarna tied with scarlet threads. The star
of her collection: an antique cowbell just like Ursli's.* She had my mother the night
she bought the book, signed by the author. Mother's middle name is Ursala. So many stories.
Even time aboard ships: told by ringing bells. Kept her bells, even when times were hard.

I was sixteen when Annie died. I never knew anything could be so hard.
At her funeral, I learned her name was Annabell. Guess that explained her love of bells.
She left them to me, said I was the 'Keeper of the Bells' because I knew all the stories.
Back then, it made me jumpy, for I still hadn't heard starsong in my heart.
The year after Annie died, once again, I went out late on Christmas Eve night:
Not only could I not hear the bells, I couldn't even find the star.

In my world, one danced to the etiquette of debutant balls. The shining star
of one's becoming an adult was to be presented, one's coming out. Rock hard
rule. Unthinkable not to climb out of jeans, don glamourous gown for dazzling night
of nights. Presented by the Governor, no less. A high, thin peal of bells
proceeded the naming of each belle of the ball. Ears heard them, not my heart.
Growing older, I didn't make much time to star search or listen, but I never forgot the stories.

Mom asked me just before she passed if I still remembered Annie's stories.
She told me never to stop watching for the Christmas Star.
I couldn't tell her it had been years since I'd looked: it would have broken her heart.
Two decades passed. I didn't go out to look for the star any more. Letting go of old wishes is hard.
Yet one Christmas Eve, just before she set out on her own, I told my daughter of Annie's bells.
No getting around it: we searched the Christmas skies for the star that night.


Memories circled with Annie's stories. Tried to explain to my daughter, but it was hard
to sit with her, searching for a star when I wasn't sure I believed in the bells.
No star, but meteor danced. My heart raced. We both swear we heard starsong in the night.




*A Bell for Ursli by Alois Carigiet


Sestina

Stanza 1: A, B, C, D, E, F
Stanza 2: F, A, E, B, D, C
Stanza 3: C, F, D, A, B, E
Stanza 4: E, C, B, F, A, D
Stanza 5: D, E, A, C, F, B
Stanza 6: B, D, F, E, C, A
Envoi: B, E
Envoi: D, C
Envoi: F, A
The envoi much include the remaining three end words in the poem. This way, the six recurring words appear in the final three lines of the poem.
A sestina does not have to rhyme.