Nesting Place (a villanelle)

I fretted  nightly ‘bout the nesting place,
Rough-hewn by hand and hung with care, secure,
And still, I feared the feral feline’s chase.

Each morning, I revisited the place,
Where days before, I’d placed it, to endure,
I fretted  nightly ‘bout the nesting place.

Then suddenly, I spied the feline’s face
approaching stealthily, toward the birdhouse floor,
And still, I feared the feral feline’s chase.

Frantic bluebird squeals, I can’t erase,
Her nestling eggs, from peril, she’d ensure,
I fretted  nightly ‘bout the nesting place.

I intervened (a mama bear’s embrace),
The nesting place seemed like a toxic lure,
And still, I feared the feral feline’s chase.

Remembering at once, I held an ace, 
My mind now focused on the certain “cure”,
I fretted nightly ‘bout the nesting place,
My pup (the “cure”) did thwart the feline’s chase!

                        🐶🐶🐶

A villanelle (also known as villanesque) is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third line of the first tercet repeated alternately until the last stanza, which includes both repeated lines.

Photo posted in this week’s Official Dogwood Photography Challenge, Week 36 Vision: Ordinary