Church Pantoum

The people stood in pews and they sang aloud the hymn,
Sat for the sermon and knelt for the prayers,
Shuffled to the altar for the blood and bread of Him,
Heard from the bible how to avoid the Devil's snares.


Sat for the sermon and knelt for the prayers,
Breathed in the incense and rang loud the bells,
Heard from the bible how to avoid the Devil's snares,
Lit candles for the dead, whom in Heaven dwells.


Breathed in the incense and rang loud the bells,
Clasped hands together in prayerful attitude,
Lit candles for the dead, whom in Heaven dwells,
Cried out their praises, proclaimed their gratitude.


Clasped hands together in prayerful attitude,
Sign of the Cross at the raising of the Host,
Cried out their praises, proclaimed their gratitude,
Invoking the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost.


Sign of the Cross at the raising of the Host,
Shuffled to the altar for the blood and bread of Him,
Invoking the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost,
The people stood in pews and they sang aloud the hymn.

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The Poet's Place   (E) Poets can discuss, review, request reviews, etc. of their unique form of writing. #1937699 by Gravedigger Dave

The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.

The design is simple:

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4

Line 5 (repeat of line 2)
Line 6
Line 7 (repeat of line 4)
Line 8

Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanzathen repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first line of the poem is also the last.

Last stanza:

Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza

Source: http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/pantoum.html