In January, I will explore the style of the Villanelle. This form of poetry has a lot of rules. I am normally a rule-breaker, so I take up the challenge of pirouetting across this restrictive dance floor with a degree of trepidation. I will call Villanelle # 3 There is a Secret Beauty in Old Age.
My first love is poetry. I played with rhythms as a child as a favorite toy, writing line after line and verse upon verse down in a notebook my mama gave me. The words became undecipherable squiggly lines dancing across the page. I remember sitting on my Uncle Harvey’s porch, making up poems only I could read. I learned to write real letters after I started school. That’s when my adventure with poetry started. I found myself in a dance with a fickle dancer. As soon as I got the steps right, the beat changed, and the singer sang a different tune. COVID-19 and retirement have given me the gift of time to explore, study, and capture the essence of poetry, making all its different moved on the page.
The rules I followed writing Villanelle # 3
The rules for creating a Villanelle are simple and straight forward. This style of poetry must have 19 lines and five stanzas. The closing stanza has four lines. Also, line 1 gets repeated in lines 6, 12, and 18. Thus, line 3 gets repeated in lines 9, 15, and 19. There are so many rules and so little time. I might as well get started.
There Exists a Secret Beauty in Old Age
There exists a secret beauty in old age
Youth cannot understand
The mystery written on the final page
Winter’s world cold and strange
The old one struggles to withstand
There exists a secret beauty in old age
Breath in, breath out a fair exchange
The essence of life’s demand
The Mystery written on the final page
Years and years of living withstand
Unraveled by time strand by strand
There exists a secret beauty in old age
Here on this darkened stage
Weary legs struggle to make a stand
The mystery written on the final page
Uttering final lines filled with outrage
Amid a fearful and frozen wasteland
There exists a secret beauty in old age
The mystery written on the final page
Old age comes to each one of us sooner or later. I wrote this Villanelle # 2 as an expression of the mystery to found in life as we age.
Who is Molly Shea?
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.
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Love it. Thanks.