Category: Villanelle

Practicing the Form

September 10th, 2023

Learn to let things come, learn to let them go

Sink with your breath to take root with your feet-

Even the body you wear, you borrow

Your first step drops lightly into the flow,

All movement is one, advance or retreat–

Learn to let things come, learn to let them go

Rise up on the wings of the crane to know

Where it is that earth and heaven might meet-

Even the body you wear, you borrow

In order to ascend, first reach down low;

Unspool a thread of time as you repeat-

Learn to let things come, learn to let them go

Clouds wave by with the promise of a drawn bow

A budding flower can’t be obsolete-

See that the body you wear, you borrow

When the world burns, the mind shifts to and fro

Yet despair and hope have shapes incomplete-

Learn to let things come, learn to let them go;

Even the body you wear, you borrow

Any wisdom in this villanelle was borrowed from Sifu Feng
Interlude: A Villanelle

June 25th, 2023

For My Friends M & P, on Their Wedding Day

Complete the circle by joining your hands-

Walking up that aisle, your love renews,

Reaching for that hand, you will take your stand.

You’ve traveled long through dark and troubled lands-

Now walking together, you’ll see it through,

Complete the circle by joining your hands.

You’ve come together to these green islands,

The ocean’s garden, with love found by few,

Reaching for that hand, you will take your stand.

As you come together, your love expands

When you exchange bands, the rings meant for you,

Complete the circle by joining your hands.

Today that thief, Time, is yours to command,

Though his sands run, take that which is your due;

Reaching for that hand, you will take your stand.

As you build the ties that time can withstand,

Together you can make a world that is true-

Complete the circle by joining your hands;

Reaching for that hand, you will take your stand.

Category: Villanelle

Practicing the Form

Interlude: A Villanelle