2008 Villanelle: Gravity

Gravity
DW Bender
February 18-20, 2008

'Tis gravity that ages you and me;
we circuit day by day, year after year
on clockwork gears of earth, sun, moon and sea;

So round we go, flies on a string, and free
to rise or fall within our atmosphere;
'Tis gravity that ages you and me:

The constant pull and push on A through Z
grinds periodic elemental spheres
on clockwork gears of earth, sun, moon and sea:

As sure as warmth draws sap up through the tree
and water draws the root down deep and near,
'tis gravity that ages you and me.

All Adam's clay, we sink to whence we spring
(o just another ruse, dear Chanticleer).
On clockwork gears of earth, sun, moon and sea

the wheel of life-death-life spins until we,
weary, find rest in That which holds us dear.
'Tis gravity that ages you and me
on clockwork gears of earth, sun, moon and sea.

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Hyperlinked here, are pages of a site with a favorite villanelle by Theodore Roethke, The Waking. Also, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Bob Dylan. Others villanelles and poems are available on the site, including a surprising one I've not read before: In Memory of the Unknown Poet, Robert Boardman Vaughn by Donald Justice. Here, I discovered a villanelle I like very much, Sugar Dada, by J. Allyn Rosser. I am especially drawn to Rosser's deep and Zennish, if not philosophically disillusioned lines, "Meaning lies in meaning's absence. The mist / Is always almost just about to lift./Nothing is truer. Dear, not even this ...". Love the poem.

Another site with some of my favorite villanelles by other poets: Mad Girl's Love Song and by Sylvia Plath, One Art by Elizabeth Bishop; some also on the above site.