So I know this is a blog about dyslexia but I just can't help myself, I'm just so proud of myself for writing a villanelle that I have to share it. Just as a quick summary of what a villanelle is, it is a ridiculously hard type of poem to write. There are 6 stanzas with the first 5 having three lines and the last one with 4. In the first stanza, the first and last line are used alternately as the ending line in the rest of the stanzas with the final stanza ending with both lines. Oh yeah, one last thing, there are only two rhyme schemes in the entire poem. So the rhyming follows this pattern ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABA, ABAA. Confused? Don't worry about it, it will all make sense it just a second. Now for the poem
People close their eyes and hide their faces
From the bitter burning of setting light—
Waiting, quiet, for the empty places.
They raise a whisper to fill the spaces,
Testing darkness but at final night,
People close their eyes and hide their faces.
Blackness follows and Silence chases
Those men who've stopped amidst their endless flight
Waiting, quiet, for the empty places.
Searching, praying, for a few last traces,
Afraid to vanish in the hollow sight
People close their eyes and hide their faces.
At end of day, men find tired paces
That softly anguished under waning might,
Waiting, quiet, for the empty places.
Here, now gone, and Tomorrow races,
Leaves a longing for what once was right.
People close their eyes and hide their faces,
Waiting, quiet, for the empty places.
And p.s., the only reason this poem is as depressing as it is is because I was listening to the song Mad World on repeat and that translated into this poem. I am what I listen to. And as my teacher says, "You have to separate the poet from the narrator." Your English lesson is now down. :)
