Retracted Claws

Sunset…
the purple bloom
painting the horizon
briefly before the stars above
triumph…

Silent…
night tiptoes and eavesdropping dreams
caped in his shadow with
retracted claws
‘till dawn

Shade and Darkness, The Evening of The Deluge
J.M.W. Turner

Today I host dVerse where we revisit the (American) cinquain and all the varieties thereof. The basic form is simply based on 2/4/6/8/2 syllables in a five line poem. Use it in any way you like.

September 4, 2025

32 responses to “Retracted Claws

  1. A mirror cinquain from sunset to dawn. The second part is dream or nightmare of retracted claws. Thanks for the exercise of conciseness.

  2. You have captured the sunset well. I wonder about the eavesdropping on dreams that night seems to find. Could there be a need for claws? Nightmares can be scary.

  3. Thank you for a challenging prompt ~ you chose the perfect art to accompany this cinquain ~ mysteriously dark.

  4. Just a quick follow-up note: I really enjoyed your prompt.

    Today I sat down and wrote four pages (16 and more to come) of cinquains on Philosophy and Theology. Thank you for the inspiration!

Leave a reply to Carol C Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.