Because Thai and Lao do not include phonemic stress, the rhythm used in their poetry is demarcative, i.e., based on the number of syllables rather than on the number of stresses. In "gon" verse (the most common form of traditional "lam" text) there are seven basic syllables in each line, divided into three and four syllable hemistiches. When combined with the musical beat, this produces a natural rhythm of four on-beat syllables, three off-beat syllables, and a final one beat rest: