A villanelle. Also dedicated to her.


Sights and smells, ringing bells,
Down by the church's orchard,
The pearling dew all fresh and new.

Around the grass where you fell,
Littered with (rocks and pebbles and stones and)
Sights and smells, and ringing bells,

I was taking a gander with you,
At (buds and bugs and thorns and sand,)
The pearling dew all fresh and new.

Suddenly staring at a snail's shell,
Soddenly supine, sideways slanting, your head was swirling
With sights and smells and ringing bells.

And from afar I heard a calling due,
So gathering your limbs, I saw by your temples gathering
A pearling dew, all fresh and new.

The barren earth with you - and swelled -
You and bitter iron - and reeling -
From sights and smells, from ringing bells,
The pearling dew all fresh and new.