"good people, please heed this stumbling prayer"

The sestina is a remarkably difficult poetic form: six six-line stanzas utilize the same six end-words, rearranged in their order in each stanza, finally ending in a short three-line envoy (message) that uses two end-words in each line, all in a very specific pattern. Invented by the troubadour Arnaut Daniel (see "Lo ferm voler"), this form has posed a challenge to every poet that has ever attempted it.