For Jean Passerat, inventor of the villanelle

In ruffled collar, turned against the light,

A poet gazes toward what lies beyond,

The man who gave the villanelle its flight.

He fixed the form with meter drawn up tight,

Nineteen lines circling like a sacred round,

In ruffled collar, turned against the light.

What visions did Passerat's quill ignite?

What repetitions did his mind compound,

The man who gave the villanelle its flight?

His profile speaks of intellect and sight,

Of Renaissance minds where art and learning crowned,

In ruffled collar, turned against the light.

He forged the chains that paradoxically write

Freedom through constraint, where sense is bound.

The man who gave the villanelle its flight.

Centuries later, still his gift burns bright.

The turning verse, the echo's haunting sound,

In ruffled collar, turned against the light,

The man who gave the villanelle its flight.

Authors Note: Jean Passerat (1534–1602) was a French poet and scholar of the Renaissance, known for his graceful lyric verse and wit. A professor of Latin at the Collège de France, he also wrote political satires and songs. His poem “Villanelle (J’ai perdu ma tourterelle)” is his most famous work, a tender elegy that later inspired the fixed poetic form now called the villanelle. Though Passerat wrote only this single example, its musical repetition and emotional depth made it a model for poets centuries later.

Villanelle

(Jean Passerat, 16th century)

I have lost my turtledove:

Is it not she whom I hear?

I will go after her.

You mourn your faithful love;

Alas, so do I mourn mine:

I have lost my turtledove.

If your love is still true,

So too is my faith steadfast:

I will go after her.

Your lament renews itself;

I too must ever mourn:

I have lost my turtledove.

Since I no longer see the fair one,

Nothing beautiful remains to me:

I will go after her.

Death, whom I so often call,

Take now what is offered thee:

I have lost my turtledove,

I will go after her.