AF: The Villanelle, for form junkies

Originating in the 16th century, a villanelle is a six stanza poem whose first stanza contains three lines, the first and last of which repeat alternatively as the final line of the four ensuing three-line stanzas, and ending with a four line stanza whose last two lines are the repeated lines.

Got that?

1/2/3
4/5/1
6/7/3
8/9/1
10/11/3
12/13/1/3

These are so fun and so hard to write.  The trick is to get a good first stanza, and then to fearlessly tell your story.  Go for the jugular.

Alone
by Tara Howe

Please do not leave me here tonight
For I have no desire to be alone.
The groping hands of the venomous night

Try to catch me. In my line of sight
Are the shadows, moving with a chilling moan.
Please do not leave me here tonight.

The air has a destructive bite
That is tearing my soft soul. Crushed bones
From the groping hands of the venomous night.

I fear that I shall no longer be by morning light,
With my fallen body never to be known.
Please do not leave me here tonight.

In my struggle for life I will fight,
Yet the darkness will win with the lone
Groping hands of the venomous night.

I warned you this would happen. Tight
ropes pulling out my soul. Now to the surreal zone
With the groping hands of the venomous night.
Please do not leave me here tonight.


You will note that she reversed the sequence of the final two lines, but I don't care.  Do you?