The Silken Glow

For her, he obsessed. Exquisite, rare,

alienesque - he searched high and low,

braved great risk, sought her silken

glow. For him, she’d bloom once.

How to care for her,

he did not know -

thus, their love

could not

grow.

*

-Gina C. 🧚‍♀️✨

*

Author's Note: I counted "alienesque" as 3 syllables. Syllablecounter says the word "alienesque" is 5 syllables, but I beg to differ. Putting "alien" into the website yields 2. While I, personally, pronounce "alien" as "ey-lee-uhn"(3), dictionary.com confirms there is an alternate pronunciation: "eyl-yuhn"(2), and I figure that's how syllablecounter must be pronouncing it. Multiple other websites also count "alien" as 2. Ok, fair enough! I learned something. Moving on to "esque"...

Syllablecounter counts "esque" as 2 syllables. However, that's absurd, especially when entering "picturesque" in the website yields 3.

So, I used the 2 + 1 = 3 method. I hope it's acceptable. I did the best I could to make everyone happy!

Can I talk about this poem now? Teehee. 🤗

Gosh, I went on such a tangent about syllables there, I'm not even sure where to start. Also, I don't want add too much reading time to this, so, with the help of Wikipedia, I've written some information (and thoughts!) about orchids and orchid hunters here:

Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate your time here. :)

I'd also like to give a shoutout to Heather Hubler, Thavien Yliaster, Cathy Holmes, Dharrsheena Raja Segarran, and Keila Aartila for sharing their thoughts on syllables with me! :)