This is a revision of a villanelle I wrote over a decade ago and posted in Karnak in the
Villanelle thread. I'm not sure that I ever posted it here, but it is an expansion of the original by converting it from iambic tetrameter to iambic pentameter to help clarify my intention in this piece. I'd be open to any suggestions for further revision.
This Place I Learned to Hidethis dread… this puzzling emptiness inside
that makes me often want to run away
somewhere within… this place I learned to hide
forgotten shame? a fear? I can’t decide
Oh, God! this numbing fog seems here to stay…
this dread… this puzzling emptiness inside
no one in whom I freely can confide
who’ll help me look into this murky gray
somewhere within… this place I learned to hide
a glimpse, a curtain sudden pulled aside
a fleeing specter melts. How can I stay
this dread? …this puzzling emptiness inside?
a hundred lonely nights, alone I’ve cried
please show me; somehow put it on display
somewhere within… this place I learned to hide
I know some day You’ll in Your time provide
more Light… somehow You’ll graciously allay
this dread… this puzzling emptiness inside…
somewhere within… this place I learned to hide
© MLee Dickens'son