No slackers here for Day 5 of Na/GloPoWriMo.  Here are the goals:

“(1) the villanelle form, (2) lines taken from an outside text, and/or (3) phrases that oppose each other in some way. If you can use two elements, great – and if you can do all three, wow!”

No trifle here.. so first question then.  What is the Villanelle form?

“The villanelle has 19 lines, split into 5 tercets (three-line stanzas) and 1 quatrain (a stanza of 4 lines). There are two repeating rhymes and two “refrains,” or repeated lines.

• The 1st and 3rd lines alternate as the last lines of stanzas 2, 3, and 4. The last stanza uses the 1st and 3rd lines as a rhymed couplet.  If we use capitals for the refrains and lowercase letters for the rhymes, the form could be expressed as: A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2 / a b A1 A2.
• There is no set meter in a villanelle but there is a set rhyme scheme. There is no fixed number of syllables for each line in a villanelle.
• The villanelle is broken into three parts: the introduction, the development, and the conclusion. Most villanelles build up intensity and tone until they reach the conclusion.”

Of Love and Fear
by Michael Romani

There in the stillness is our choice
Between things of love and fear
We choose the limits of our voice

To be anxious or to freely rejoice
Anxiety laden or to find calmness in love
There in the stillness is our choice

Some say that it's a Hobson's Choice
Exploring all that life might give
We choose the limits of our voice

We find we become what becomes our patois
Finding and refining ourselves by voice
There in the stillness is our choice

Confidence becomes our method of choice
It's a matter of utmost priority
We choose the limits of our voice

Stripping away, stepping away, we devoice
Deciding that with love we best rejoice
There in the stillness is our choice
We choose the limits of our voice

(c)  April 5, 2019  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved