A Villanelle for Mother's Day

Music: From The Carnival of the Animals: Persons with Long Ears
By Camille Saint-Saens. Sequenced by Ramon Pajares at Kunst der Fuge.

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A villanelle for Mother's Day
Should take me just about an hour:
Writing it is child's play.

Because I know just what to say,
And rhyming's quite within my power,
To write it should be child's play.

Yet plain speech is not my way:
I look for leaves to shade my flower,
This villanelle for Mother's Day.

I do not wish to sound too fey,
Obscure, mystic, gushy, sour--
Arggh! Writing's never child's play!

Yes, childish! To my dismay,
Far beyond the allotted hour,
This villanelle for Mother's Day

Dawdles on. Let me just say
It plain: I love you, and so end our
Villanelle for Mother's Day.
(Well ... writing it was child's play.)