Villanelle: Maysong

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Joanne Edith

Artist: Maurice Prendergast
(In public domain)

Their song arises to celestial realms
bubbling o’er the cliff in coiling curls
As hawk’s wings soar and float atop the elms.

and top tall branches in the clouds entwined
as ring by ring, the puffs of song unfurl
Their song arises to celestial realms.

at first a whispered moan, perhaps a whine
’til air is filled with gaily twirling girls
As hawk’s wings soar and float atop the elms.

their may-song round the pole erupts, sublime
and pastel ribbons twisted by their twirls
Their song arises to celestial realms.

forever it has been since early times
when innocence was prized like rarest pearls
As hawk’s wings soar and float atop the elms.

their music lilts and spins incessant rhymes
whilst ether rings applaud their maypole whirls
Their song arises to celestial realms,
As hawk’s wings soar and float atop the elms.

Inspired by Bjorn, in this weeks Studio 30Plus response, I am attempting my first ‘villanelle’*.
OPTION 1- BUBBLES
OPTION 2- CLIFF

*”The highly structured villanelle is a nineteen-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains. The form is made up of five tercets followed by a quatrain. The first and third lines of the opening tercet are repeated alternately in the last lines of the succeeding stanzas; then in the final stanza, the refrain serves as the poem’s two concluding lines. Using capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2.”

Excerpted from poets.org (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5796)