I must apologize for being away from the poetry posting for nearly a month. Other writing missions have eclipsed the poetry aspects of my writing lately. Plus villanelles are very time and energy consuming. I need to set aside specific, uninterrupted time to compose these poems. Even more so than the sonnets, I think. A villanelle is not the sort of poem one can simply whip up while waiting for dinner to cool.
Indeed, exploring the villanelle has caused me to depart somewhat from a longstanding custom I have of starting and finishing each of my poems all in one sitting. Believe it or not, that has been what I have done for 99% of my poems, but with these I've found it easier to come up with the refrain first, and then come back to fill in the refrain with verses later. In this last case, quite a bit of time passed between developing the refrain key and composing the poem itself. (I still compose the body of the poem all in one sitting, however.)
Time got away from me, but now I am caught up to this latest villanelle, and I present it here at last.
*
For a moment I can see her still.
(Though I never hear her speak.)
She was more to me than just a passing thrill.
I'm swallowing a bitter pill.
Prospects of her coming back are bleak.
For a moment I can see her still.
It was mostly physical until,
She let me see her weep when she was weak.
She was more to me than just a passing thrill.
But she had longings I could not fulfill.
I am an average man. She is unique.
For a moment I can see her still.
Most men who look like me would kill
To move their hands across her form-so sleek.
She was more to me than just a passing thrill.
I simply couldn't summon up the will
To leave my peaceful valley for her peak.
For a moment I can see her still.
She was more to me than just a passing thrill.
