Step away from the rhymes.

I have underestimated the effect of rhythm and meter in poetry. These techniques have a significant role in defining the tone of a poem. My attempts have focused mainly on rhyming and the impact has been somewhat happy and sing-song when I'm trying to express frustration, failure and deep thanksgiving. I feel these emotions, deeply, but simple rhymes aren't doing it justice. If the meter is not suitable for the content of a poem, it leads to, well, thematic incoherence.

The following is an example of meter being unsuited to the subject matter of felling poplar trees:

The poplars are fell’d, farewell to the shade
And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade,
The winds play no longer, and sing in the leaves,
Nor Ouse on his bosom their image receives.

Twelve years have elaps’d since I last took a view
Of my favourite field and the bank where they grew,
And now in the grass behold they are laid,
And the tree is my seat that once lent me a shade.
(From The Poplar Field, Cowper)

The tone is almost playful when obviously the intent is for melancholy.

I'll keep this in mind if I should ever be inclined to express myself poetically again. Reading the last two poems I've posted honestly makes me cringe.