Milkwood’s  Poem A Day #7 is at best very difficult.  The form is the Villanelle.  The word prompt is ‘tide’.

The villanelle consists of:

“19 lines. Two rhymes. Two lines that repeat. Six stanzas – five are three lines each and the last is four lines. The first stanza has both repeating lines. The following four stanzas alternate having one repeating line or the other. The sixth (and last) stanza contains both of the repeating lines.”

“Here’s the rhyme pattern shown with a’s and b’s. The capital A1 and A2 are the repeating lines.”

“A1bA2 abA1 abA2 abA1 abA2 abA1A2”

I won’t pretend that I did it justice.  Here’s mine:

Valentine's Day Villanelle
by Michael Romani

I find myself eating dinner again
Valentine's Day's riptide again I'm told
And I remain certain that I'm my best friend

I find myself eating dinner again
Watching some spoof of a jaded movie
The television provides the light it can

It's not like being alone is the end
It can be very peaceful by myself
And I remain certain that I'm my best friend

I find myself eating dinner again
They say a man should not always be all alone
Sometimes though being alone is best then

It's not something that I will defend
Cruelty has brought me to this end
And I remain certain that I am my best friend

I find myself eating dinner again
Thinking back on when you were mine
And I remain certain that I am my best friend
Still, God knows that I would like to try again

(c) February 14, 2019   Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved