A Glimpse of Starlight

Hey all! My trip got delayed by a few days (note to all travelers: always check the requirements for unaccompanied minors traveling to foreign countries!), so I figured I’d pop in and share this villanelle I wrote a little while ago. 

 

To love is to be weak, to be shamed,

This they all told me, eyes shadowed with fear.

But without love, you can never be named.

 

Old memories, like photographs framed

With faded flowers, make the message clear:

To love is to be weak, to be shamed.

 

You hide your heart, your soul so maimed,

Erecting a wall around it with blood and tears—

But without love, you can never be named.

 

The scars of previous burns proclaimed

How open hearts—the folly!—only invite a spear.

To love is to be weak, to be shamed.

 

And when your passion untamed flamed,

You fled the heat, terrified to let love interfere—

But without love, you can never be named.

 

Courage, dear heart, let Love reclaim:

Let the truth of it destroy your veneer.

To love is to be weak, to be shamed,

But without love, you can never be named.