A villanelle is a poem of 19 lines with a very specific rhyming structure and two refrains which run throughout the piece. I practically tore my hair out trying to get this to work! I hope you enjoy my first attempt at a villanelle.
Humanity retreats, history repeats, war.
Corruption and greed finds a release,
Is it all worth dying for?
Pavements galore, with gunfire’s roar,
Machines of death that never ease.
Humanity retreats, history repeats, war.
Hospitals and morgues keeping score,
Politicians spinning Newspeak fleece.
Is it all worth dying for?
At the whim of a few, the many are sore,
Innocence depletes, a populations decrease.
Humanity retreats, history repeats, war.
We turn our eyes, we try to ignore,
An endless theatre of mans caprice.
Is it all worth dying for?
Surely we can strive for more.
Can’t we find a way to peace?
Humanity retreats, history repeats, war.
Is it all worth dying for?