Two Variations on the Villanelle

The rose-garden is overgrown with grass…

The rose-garden is overgrown with grass,
a tangled mesh of spiderwebs and weeds,
suspended between gnarled umbrella trees.

Suspended between gnarled umbrella trees,
high wires are possums' tightrope and trapeze,
the feral yard's nocturnal artery.

The feral yard's nocturnal artery,
where those intent on foraging must pass,
a bridge that spans the wilderness of grass.

A bridge that spans the wilderness of weeds,
and arching overhead, a rash of stars,
like phosphorus reflected in dark glass.

Like phosphorus reflected in dark glass,
star-energy approaches from afar,
augmented by the nascent Moon and Mars.

A tangled mesh of spiderwebs and weeds,
alive with subtle, feral energies
augmented by the nascent Moon and Mars,
the rose-garden is overgrown with grass.


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Villanelle for Saint Vladimir
(under a September moon)

On evenings laced with frankincense of jasmine,
he drinks the subtle energy of planets
from fragrant night's replenished violet chalice.

His arms extending in an arc of welcome
invite the moon to rest against his vestments
on evenings laced with frankincense of jasmine.

The pewter gleam of countless light years travels
to bronze-cast brows and lips of Saint Vladimir
from fragrant night's replenished violet chalice.

He gazes on a river's slow meanders
that bear no kinship to his distant Dnepr
on evenings laced with frankincense of jasmine.

His features speak beatitude, not malice;
the young moon seeks his arms, rejuvenated
by fragrant night's replenished violet chalice.

The excesses of sun near the Equator, the raucous birds
so strange to Kiev's ears for him can hold no fears,
on evenings laced with frankincense of jasmine,
anticipating night's replenished chalice.




*The bronze monument to Saint Vladimir was a gift from the local Russian community to the University of Queensland (Australia) in 1988, to commemorate a millennium of Christianity in Rus', and in acknowledgement of the role played by the university's Russian Department in nurturing Russian culture in the Antipodes.