A Villanelle is a French verse form consisting of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain, with the first and third lines of the first stanza repeating alternately in the following stanzas. These two refrain lines form the final couplet in the quatrain. Remember “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas? That’s a Villanelle and one of my favourite poems ever!

 

I know you still walk with me.

Ready to catch me if I fall

On roads so dark I cannot see.

 

I speak to you, they call me crazy

Yet I feel your breath, I hear you call

I know you still walk with me.

 

I turn to look at the empty quay

The voice of the oceans thunder and fall

On roads so dark I cannot see.

 

Your voice in my head sets me free

When those old demons come to maul

I know you still walk with me.

 

I thought I saw your footprints by the sea

Where the surf my sand castle did sprawl

On roads so dark I cannot see.

 

Even now I feel the need to flee

To nestle in your arms, to safety crawl.

I know do you still walk with me.

On roads so dark I cannot see.