[The paradelle is] one of the more demanding French fixed forms, first appearing in the langue d'oc love poetry of the eleventh century. It is a poem of four six-line stanzas in which the first and second lines, as well as the third and fourth lines of the first three stanzas, must be identical. The fifth and sixth lines, which traditionally resolve these stanzas, must use all the words from the preceding lines and only those words. Similarly, the final stanza must use every word from all the preceding stanzas and only those words.
There's more to its history, which I find fascinating, but I will refrain from comment except to say that Collins says that it's cheating to construct the final stanza first and work backward. So I didn't.
In black and white: she sleeps
In black and white. She sleeps
Undisturbed, for hours
Undisturbed. For hours,
She, undisturbed, sleeps in white,
And for black hours.Grumpy, she awakens to face the day
Grumpy. She awakens to face the day
And her mood changes: one smile
(And her mood changes one). Smile,
Grumpy day! The smile awakens one face;
And she changes to her mood.Where her feet fall, happiness abounds.
Where her feet fall, happiness abounds,
And everywhere the wet scent of bamboo.
And everywhere, the wet scent of bamboo.
Bamboo abounds (and happiness of her feet!),
Where everywhere, the wet fall scent.Grumpy in happiness, and day awakens.
Changes fall everywhere
For her hours of black mood and white smile.
Where scent abounds, and the undisturbed bamboo.
To face the black, she, the one, she sleeps,
Her feet wet.
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