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villanelle

By Harper LewisPublished 2 months ago Updated about a month ago 1 min read
Image created with Gemini

The echoes grow faint,

but you hear them soft and low from above and below,

just like a saint.

The whole world spinning, feels like flying through colors and drinking sound from downtown, everything blurry, fuzzy, and faint.

Everything is ridiculous, just like you as you swim through the thickness of losing your clutch on the slippery crystal image, the greasy smudge of your fingers dulling its glow.

The echoes grow faint.

The fantasy you try to force into reality is ever so quaint.

You hold on too tight, the pressure of your desperation too much for the fragile illusion: shattered—the jagged shards cutting into your delicate fingers, prompting your blood to flow—

just like a saint.

Lady MacBeth had the same complaint,

though your deeds weren’t literal, blood ties severed and cauterized, not a drop lost, while words carelessly spilled to fragile ears that may never know

the echoes to grow faint.

May your hands forever reek of the weapons you taint:

purloined letters, Shylock’s pound of flesh in the hands of Reagan and Goneril, Professor Umbridge with her bow,

just like a saint.

I watch you play victim: a wounded princess devastated by the foul temptress is the image you paint.

I see Miss Havisham in tattered lace, a raven perched on a chamber door, Lady MacBeth washing her hands, Judas with twenty-seven on his lips, the house of Usher crumbling, Eliot clutching a handful of dust, Ichabod Crane on a slow horse trotting through Sleepy Hollow.

The echoes grow faint.

Just like a saint?

Villanelle

About the Creator

Harper Lewis

I'm a weirdo nerd who’s extremely subversive. I like rocks, incense, and all kinds of witchy stuff. Intrusive rhyme bothers me.

I’m known as Dena Brown to the revenuers and pollsters.

MA English literature, College of Charleston

Reader insights

Outstanding

Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!

Top insights

  1. Compelling and original writing

    Creative use of language & vocab

  2. Easy to read and follow

    Well-structured & engaging content

  3. Eye opening

    Niche topic & fresh perspectives

  1. Heartfelt and relatable

    The story invoked strong personal emotions

  2. Masterful proofreading

    Zero grammar & spelling mistakes

  3. On-point and relevant

    Writing reflected the title & theme

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Comments (6)

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  • Kelli Sheckler-Amsdenabout a month ago

    I LOVE that you changed the form....so much. Hauntingly alluring 9if that makes sense) kinda dark, teasingly sarcastic

  • John R. Godwinabout a month ago

    Yeah, I was in with the photo, then they way you varied the form of the villanelle held me and kept me through to the ending. The effect of not holding to the strict form is jarring and powerful. But when you close and hold the form, it's even more jarring and powerful. It a highly effective variation on the form. I really like this a lot.

  • Caitlin Charltonabout a month ago

    Such a haunting photo choice. The contrast of her dress and the color of her horse is stunning! 🤩 I see what you did there, linking the echoes that can be heard from above and below to a saint. This line, "drinking sound from downtown," reminds me of advice I heard somewhere: to describe things as the opposite of what they are. Synesthesia seems to be a powerful literary device because it made me stop and read it again.

  • Tanya Lei2 months ago

    I love the hauntedness in this, the rhyming wraps it up like a little present

  • Milan Milic2 months ago

    Great. A haunting, dreamlike reflection on guilt and illusion, carried by vivid imagery and fading echoes.

  • Matthew J. Fromm2 months ago

    This is exceptionally gothic. I love it

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