The villain that is the villanelle

I found this particular poem form one night after I’d given up counting sheep and went down the rabbit hole of late night googling!

The villanelle is a highly structured poem of French origins. In poetry speak, it’s made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain, and for an added degree of difficulty – two repeating rhymes and two refrains.

Below is perhaps the one and only villanelle I will ever write!

The best of the day

I hear the clock, minutes ebbing away

Taking the memories I am forgetting

As I try to make the best of each day.

I am not deaf to what people say

As I pull against the direction in which I am heading,

Struggling to find my best in each day.

Lovers don’t like to put effort into the play-

They want beauty, if ever so fleeting:

Parading me as a best catch of the day.

Who believe, want to stay

If they knew my thoughts (unsettling).

Instead they leave to find their own new day.

And so I am aine again, forgetting more than I say

With time my enemy, one I am not defeating-

Realising that the best has already left my day.

I could get down on my knees and pray

But lazy gods are to bored to start meddling.

And I know this could be my last best day

Accepting that it is my best last day.