Challenge
Write a Villanelle, My Genius Poets!
The villanelle is a French verse form consisting of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain, with the first and third lines of the first stanza repeating alternately in the following stanzas. These two refrain lines from the final couplet in the quatrain. Here's what that looks like (letters for rhyme scheme, numbers mean a line repeats):
A1 B A2//A B A1//A B A2//A B A1//A B A1 A2
No theme, no prompt other than make it great.
For examples of villanelles, please enjoy:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44976/the-house-on-the-hill
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/150043/letter-to-my-blackout
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47536/one-art
Throw The Black Rose Petals!
You can't have it all
A ring could be placed on our fingers
It would make us feel small
It's like talking to wall
So stubborn and still
You can't have it all
I can't be with you so I stall
You have to be with me to evade that chill
It would make us feel small
A stuffy wedding gown if I work up the gall
An uncomfortable suit if you have the will
You can't have it all
Tears stained on my bridal shawl
If we decided we're living and dying on this hill
It would make us feel small
The rings placed on our fingers won't make me bawl
Despite our union bringing no thrill
You can't have it all
It would make us feel small
4
1
0