Villanelle — A Poem by J.G. Sandom

 

There is a tranquil eye inside the hurricane —

I think (perhaps I’m wrong) that’s something you once said —

somewhere, hidden, on the other side of pain.

 

Last night, as I was walking to you in the rain,

the western sky above the hills glowed blue and red.

There is a tranquil eye inside the hurricane.

 

And, as I passed the trellis by your windowpane,

I saw you lying, naked, on your walnut bed,

somewhere, hidden, on the other side of pain.

 

You weren’t alone; another lay where I had lain

beside you on those summer days of words unsaid.

There is a tranquil eye inside the hurricane.

 

And, in the cold, outside your window, as a train

incised the night, I saw you smile and hold his head â€”

somewhere, hidden, on the other side of pain.

 

I don’t know why I came to you again,

but I guess a love that’s slipped away is never really dead.

There is a tranquil eye inside the hurricane ...

somewhere, hidden, on the other side of pain.

 

For Jan

New Canaan, Connecticut ~ 1975