A dainty thing's the Villanelle. <br />Sly, musical, a jewel in rhyme, <br />It serves its purpose passing well. <br /> <br />A doublc-clappered silver bell <br />That must be made to clink in chime, <br />A dainty thing's the Villanelle; <br /> <br />And if you wish to flute a spell, <br />Or ask a meeting 'neath the lime, <br />It serves its purpose passing well. <br /> <br />You must not ask of it the swell <br />Of organs grandiose and sublime- <br />A dainty thing's the Villanelle; <br /> <br />And, filled with sweetness, as a shell <br />Is filled with sound, and launched in time, <br />It serves its purpose passing well. <br /> <br />Still fair to see and good to smell <br />As in the quaintness of its prime, <br />A dainty thing's the Villanelle, <br />It serves its purpose passing well.<br /><br />William Ernest Henley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/villanelle-8/
