Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Villanelle for S

It's not a very good villanelle, but one that came to mind when I turned down a different block during an evening spring walk and came upon a covered bridge I never knew existed.


While walking on a road she’d never been

In dusty, plastic, brown two-dollar shoes

She saw a bridge she’d never before seen.


She’d gone out for a walk that evening, then

As bits of sky turned black and stirred to brew

She saw a bridge she’d never before seen.


While walking on a road she’d never been

Avoiding things she didn’t want to do

She stopped and stared at what appeared between


Her mind and memory, arching a ravine

With railroad tracks that met and split in two.

She saw a bridge she’d never before seen.


While walking on a road she’d never been

She stopped to ponder whether to go through

As thunder flared and and wind blew by in skeins.


While walking on a road she’d never been

She saw a bridge she’d never before seen.

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