Villanelle

Villanelle Old Yeats desired to put his death from sight And reach immortal status with his art.

Now none of us can stop the brutish light.

The Byzantine refiners had to fight The strong temptations of a poet's heart.

Old Yeats desired to put his death from sight.

But now our senses give a strange delight.

From molecule and atom we must part, Now none of us can stop the brutish light.

We shudder at reality whose might, The Irish bard rejected from the start ­ Old Yeats desired to put his death from sight.

Today we know death's awful, awesome bite Cannot be loaded in a sky borne cart.

Now none of us can stop the brutish light.

Old Yeats desired to put his death from sight, Now none of us can stop the brutish light.

Carl Estrin