Villanelle 2020 By Gabriella Brand

Villanelle 2020
 
Each day, these days, I make the time for grief
It’s not just sadness, but a form of prayer:
I watch the world unfolding, turn its leaf.
 
A plague marauding, silent like a thief
The cities stilled, a waiting in the air
Each day, these days, I make the time for grief
 
Autumn comes, the grain encased in sheaf.
I don’t remember harvest quite so rare,
I watch the world unfolding, turn its leaf.
 
Things fall apart, renew, and test belief
I search for hope, and dance against despair
Each day, these days, I make the time for grief
 
Because I know that permanence is brief
And filaments are fragile, prone to wear
I watch the world unfolding, turn its leaf
 
I ride the breeze, the stars, to find relief
Acknowledge kindness when I see it there
Each day, these days, I make the time for grief
I watch the world unfolding, turn its leaf

Gabriella Brand’s poetry, short stories and essays have appeared in over fifty publications. Recent work appears in the Comstock Review, the Globe and Mail, and Aji. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Gabriella lives near New Haven, Connecticut, where she teaches in the OLLI program of the University of Connecticut. She speaks several languages, and during normal times, likes to travel the world, mostly on foot. For now, she keeps her sanity by hiking in the Connecticut countryside.