Rising waters have no mercy
No wall, nor bank, will bar their way
Nature will show no clemency
So take your chances, come what may
Altered routes through rearranging
Rising waters have no mercy
Currents, channels always changing
With Nature there’s no guarantee
Channels confined, that should be free
Levees banked to offer relief
Rising waters have no mercy
Instead they bring regrets and grief
Complacent minds will rue the day
Bottom homesteads pay Nature’s fee
Hopes and memories washed away
Rising waters have no mercy
This is my response to Jane Dougherty’s Poetry Challenge #12: Quatern
Quatern ~ 16 lines in 4 stanzas, with no rhyme or meter required. The first line becomes the second line of the second stanza, the third line of the third stanza, and then the final line of the poem.
Image source – Flooding in Pacific, Missouri, 12/30/15 – from the Daily Mail (Image © AP)
rivrvlogr 
I love it. I’m going to have to look into doing some of these challenges. I haven’t seen them before today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No excuses now 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
You did it! It seems tough because we assume it’s going to be tough. You created a quatern that rhymes and flows rhythmically too. Well done!
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
Great use of the form to tackle the subject at hand. The repetition of ‘no mercy’ drives home that no matter how one looks at it, perceives it, lives within it, nature has no mercy in the sense we understand (typically) the notion of mercy. [why do bad things happen to good people?]
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Poetry challenge Quatern: the entries – Jane Dougherty Writes
There is only one way around it and that’s through it. The tense handling or dealing with the forces of nature are compelling. You have expressed that here so well.
LikeLiked by 1 person