"Wolf Paradelle"

He howls at the silver moon with cries that pierce

He howls at the silver moon with cries that pierce

His wild eyes glow in the dark of the night

His wild eyes glow in the dark of the night

His eyes of silver that pierce the wild dark;

With cries, he howls at the gleam in the night

He listens long and never hears

He listens long and never hears

And runs until he falls

And runs until he falls

And he runs long and never hears

And listens until he falls

His tired paws are resting

His tired paws are resting

While his dreaming mind is roaming

While his dreaming mind is roaming

Roaming are his dreaming paws

While his mind is resting

In the glow of his dreaming mind, he runs until he falls

And while his silver paws

And the dark eyes are resting

He cries, with his wild howls that pierce at the night

And is roaming long, never hears

and listens

--

My first attempt at a paradelle, a very puzzle-like type of poetry where the first two lines each stanza are repeated twice and the last two lines of the stanza must be composed entirely of words from the first lines. The last stanza must contain all of the words used in previous stanzas. The first stanza I wrote was actually the middle one, about the tired paws, as when I sat down to write this, I intended for it to be about my black labrador, but I found that for the sake of the paradelle format, I had to be a little more abstract. I'd like any constructive criticism anyone has to offer, thanks!