Spectator competition winners: spring triolets

In Competition No. 3241, you were invited to submit a spring triolet.

Banjo Paterson, the bard of the bush, had this to say about the triolet in 1894:

Of all the sickly forms of verse, Commend me to the triolet.It makes bad writers somewhat worse: Of all the sickly forms of verse…

But this challenge produced a funny, poignant and thoroughly robust entry full of unforced artistry. The winners take £12.

Now is the time to glorify What will not break the human heart. As Flora’s ethos lights the sky, Now is the time to glorify What’s truthful, suffocate the lie. All wars and tragedies apart, Now is the time to glorify What will not break the human heart. Basil Ransome-Davies

One needs a heart as hard as stone to stand up to the hand of fate. To face the future all alone, one needs a heart as hard as stone. He died in March; I softly moan that his new epithet is ‘late’. One needs a heart as hard as stone to stand up to the hand of fate. Dorothy Pope

The lion and the lamb compete And no one’s certain what to wear We’ll either freeze or wilt from heat. The lion and the lamb compete, One day a trial, the next a treat, In spring we’re neither here nor there. The lion and the lamb compete And no one’s certain what to wear. Alan Millard

This Spring, again, the slugs and snails Are eager for their vernal feast. I’ve baited traps with beers and ales This Spring. Again, the slugs and snails Just lap it up; my method fails To kill a single drunken beast. This Spring, again, the slugs and snails Are eager for their vernal feast. Brian Allgar

Where are the songs of spring this year, The songs of love, rebirth and laughter? We ask each morning, with a tear, Where are the songs of spring this year? Across the world burst buds of fear; We’ll sample peace in the hereafter. Where are the songs of spring this year, The songs of love, rebirth and laughter? Frank McDonald