BALLAD

A Ballad is a poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend which often has a repeated refrain. A typical ballad is a plot-driven song, with one or more characters hurriedly unfurling events leading to a dramatic conclusion. It is often constructed in quatrain stanzas, each line containing as few as three or four stresses and rhyming either the second and fourth lines, or all alternating lines.

Ballad of Cynthia

Up on the hill over Riverton

Cynthia knotted her thread;

Stitching a quilt for her baby

to keep warm in his small wicker bed.

She was widowed that fall on a blustery day

when a large tree erroneous fell;

Through grieving and grit she came up with a way

in raising her child up well.

She sewed aprons and bloomers and lace petticoats

and took them to market each week;

While Benjamin played with stick and string boats

in nearby Low Cumberland Creek.

Benjamin grew tall and straight as a man

despite what his Ma could avail;

He kissed her goodbye, and his new life began

His desire in life was to sail.

As years took their toll on the poor woman's lot

her hands could no longer pull thread;

She mourned for her son as she lay on her cot

with his quilt used to pillow her head.

She dreamed of a sailing ship billowing proud

with her boy facing battering wave;

commanding his crew boldly and loud

A ship captain worldly and brave.

Though she missed him she knew he was happy

in doing what he wanted to do;

defending his ship strong and scrappy

with sea winds and gales he fought through.

He returned on a morn in December

When the smoke from her chimney rose high;

Much taller than she could remember

with a son's look of love in his eye.

He took her to live by the ocean

where sailing ships came in from sea;

She knew Benjamin's care and devotion

wishing all to be happy as she.