Almost Done:::Poetry Project

I didn't want to spend days posting on the progress of the rhyming project, so I decided to go through it a few times and post something close to the finished product. I just remembered reading, years ago, about the process and progress of Beethoven writing his famous Symphony No. 9; how the finished work was noticeably different from the first draft. I am not saying I'm in the same class as Beethoven, but I think the process for all artists is the same.
Anyways, back to me and my attempt to rhyme my poem. I will post my thought process, then put up an image to show what I did.

Step 1 (not really step 1, but we have to start somewhere)

I decided to rewrite the poem from a different angle, but I decided against it as this is just a project poem and I don't want to spend a lot of time on it. It would have set us back to square 1.
I thought it was necessary for me to outline what I want to show through the poem: Me, the brook, its story, me not understanding the story, and ending on hope for understanding it in the future. 

 

Step 2

I try to rewrite it using the sequence I had established in the previous step. However, I switched and wrote from the point of view of me understanding its story and the underlying message that comes with it. I want to show that all things are one, from the lofty heights of the mountains, to the valleys, to the oceans

Step 3

That radical change brought a lot of confusion from me, but, as often is the case, through that tangling of nerves and words, burst through what I wanted to do with the poem - like the sun's rays breaking through overcast heavens. I moved towards the idea of me "seeing" the path of its travels from the mountains to the ocean, while still unable to comprehend the story. So I was able to see it without understanding it and hoping that I will with the next trickle of the feeble sike. 

Step 4

This is the last step for today's post, but the project is not done yet; I will post the last one tomorrow.
Here, everything came together and I was able to see the poem a little more polished in terms of rhyming. I ditched the ABAB structure and moved towards ABACDC (I have it marked at the end of the lines).
The top part of the page is the raw writing, and the bottom is the easier to read handwriting with a little sketch I did about the scene.

I hope you were able to read the chicken handwriting (my apologies to the chickens worldwide) and understand the processes I went through. I will post the last version tomorrow, and, remember, this is a project poem and poetry is my weakness, so go easy on me...Thanks for your time and keep writing...