To Write a Villanelle

I like to write...clearly, I blog because I like to write. What I never imagined I would discover through writing is an expression of things you can't get out any other way...and I learned that lesson long ago in junior high...I think.  Anyway, when I registered for a poetry class I never imagined I would be writing so much of it for assignments...I figured I'd get to read the great poems that touch people's lives and evaluate them but never did imagine I would be writing them. Alas, we are assigned writing assignments.  My most recent writing assignment was to write a villanelle. I love the poem by Dylan Thomas Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. I can't tell you how many times in my life I have repeated in my head "Rage, rage against the dying of the light." All that to say...I learned the villanelles are lovely to read, not easy to write. So I labored and struggled and scribbled and erased and re-wrote and typed and complained to my friends about how hard it was. They requested I post it, so this, my friends, is my end result:

Fall From Grace

The dais, freshly built, held you up – strong

Eager eyes raring to make the villains pay

But the hero’s fall was welcomed, even longed.

Cries of your name echoed from the throngs

It seemed you were the answer, the reason to pray

The dais, freshly built, held you up – strong.

Skeptical eyes watched, waited for your wrongs

Your movements analyzed day by agonizing day

But the hero’s fall was welcomed, even longed.

She grabbed your hand and whispered, “Come along.”

You wouldn’t be saved, you searched for prey

The dais, freshly built, held you up – strong.

Grave friends, near the end, they heard your song

You refused to turn back, the demon still to slay!

But a hero’s fall was welcomed, even longed.

This end hurt so badly because you prolonged.

You couldn’t let go of the wretched valiant day.

The dais, freshly built, held you up – strong.

But a hero’s fall was welcomed, even longed.