William Ernest Henley (Уильям Эрнст Хенли)

Villanelle

A dainty thing's the Villanelle.
Sly, musical, a jewel in rhyme,
It serves its purpose passing well.

A doublc-clappered silver bell
That must be made to clink in chime,
A dainty thing's the Villanelle;

And if you wish to flute a spell,
Or ask a meeting 'neath the lime,
It serves its purpose passing well.

You must not ask of it the swell
Of organs grandiose and sublime-
A dainty thing's the Villanelle;

And, filled with sweetness, as a shell
Is filled with sound, and launched in time,
It serves its purpose passing well.

Still fair to see and good to smell
As in the quaintness of its prime,
A dainty thing's the Villanelle,
It serves its purpose passing well. 

1. Echoes. 12. To Me at My Fifth-Floor Window
2. Echoes. 15. There Is a Wheel Inside My Head
3. Rhymes and Rhythms. Prologue
4. Rhymes and Rhythms. 20. The Shadow of Dawn
5. In Hospital. 8. Staff-Nurse: Old Style

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