My First Sestina!

I finally succeeded at writing my first sestina. It really was a challenge to try to craft something meaningful and keep it flowing while maintaining such a stringent structure! I loved working on this and I will definitely use this form again. Let me know what you think.


Silver Salud

When first we met I danced on spikes of silver,
I tossed about my locks of chestnut hair,
And with one finger lightly stirred my drink.
When first we met I treasured sun-swept days,
Was always ready with a sultry smile,
And loved to touch, perpend, converse, and think.

Do not suppose at all I could not think!
I sermonized with ease, my tongue was silver.
I softened eruditeness with a smile,
And twirled around my fingers wayward hair.
I read a thousand authors in those days,
With gusto all their words my mind did drink.

When first we met you licked my lips to drink
Their steamy sweetness. Now I think
I never had such wanton wondrous days.
Everywhere you touched me sparkled silver
Your fingers tangled softly in my hair
I bared my neck and glowed a secret smile

The years went by. I met them with a smile
While passing little hands their orange drinks
And finger-combing snarls from tangled hair.
We went whole months and didn't even think
Or read, or talk. But earning stocks and silver
Occupied your afternoons and days.

Now it has been more than a million days
Since first we met. And now my faltering smile
contains fine lines of sadness. See these silver
tears which trickle down my cheeks whene'er I think
of cancer and concoctions you must drink
And how you cling to life by just a hair.

My mirror shows crow's feet and thinning hair;
I now decline to celebrate birthdays.
But I can be content because you think
that I am still a beauty. Make me smile
and we'll hold hands across a frosty drink
While high above the waning moon turns silver.

Though I lament my hair is gone to silver
And there are dark days when I cannot think,
Yet toast I seasoned smiles into my drink.