What we have here is a rondeau redouble:
Fools in Love
We didn't start with much. You had a ride;
I had a room. One night became a week,
You driving me to work to save your pride
And I so much in love I couldn't speak.
My closest friends all called my prospects bleak,
At best, and I knew they were justified,
But almost hoped you'd end my losing streak —
We didn't start with much. You had a ride.
I rode a bike. God I was terrified
Of trucks with towing mirrors, hide and seek
In traffic, and you were mostly gratified
I had a room. One night became a week,
Since you were homeless — glad to find a geek
With no addictions and a job, tongue-tied
Without a mandolin, and not too much a freak —
You driving me to work to save your pride.
Darling we should have found a place to hide,
Your kids so young and me almost antique,
But careless love just wouldn't be denied,
And I'm so much in love I still can't speak.
We didn't start with much.
It's reworked from this sonnet:
Fools in Love
We didn't start with much. You had a ride;
I had a room. One night became a week,
You driving me to work to save your pride
And I so much in love I couldn't speak.
I played my mandolin, singing the song
I sang on Lisa's porch the night we met —
"Angel from Montgomery" — and all night long
we kept my housemates up with our duet.
We were a silly pair, to think that we
Could build a life. You had two children, one
In diapers. We were broke. My daughter Lee
Was lost. Ten years younger, you should have run.
We were the portrait of improvidence —
And love has blessed us for our lack of sense.
I often take an old piece, even if I like it, and rework it completely. I 'll move from free verse to sonnet, sonnet to some other form, or even from a trad form to free verse. This one's more a proof of concept than anything: I'd never written a rondeau redouble and that first quatrain looked like it might work as a texte for one. Won't know for months whether I like it.
8:45:52 PM 
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