Rondeau for the morning

A Rondeau

(The rondeau consists of three stanzas, a quintet (5 lines), a quatrain (4 lines) and a sestet (6 lines). The first phrase of the first line usually sets the refrain (R), but sometimes the refrain can be the whole of the first line. For improvization, the last stanza has an alternating lines of 11 syllables instead of a normal 10.)

           Early One Morning

Early one morning I run by river

I see an old man hairs white as silver

With his wrinkled hands he rubs his red eye

 All he has is a tree to keep him dry

He turns and those eyes they make me shiver

I feel cold colder than those old fever

“Be a man”, whispers a passing weaver

I look him back don't tell me if I cry

Early one morning.

A drunk I am rotting with my liver

I open the coat, a gift from Jennifer

And as I give him I ask myself why

Pain is only understood by painful eye

The answer I know I will get never

Early one morning.