Blurred Lines

 

I have loved today’s poetic prompt as it has been a real stretch. The suggestion is to write a Villanelle poem that incorporates phrases that oppose each other in some way and contains some lines taken from an outside text. In my poem there are four borrowed lines, one from a random one I found online, one that originally comes from “Sonnet 29” by Shakespeare, one from John Donne’s “The Sun Rising” and one from “When I have Fears that I May Cease to Be” by John Keats.

 

Despite Ourselves

The thrill is often found within the chase

Unbearable to live upon knife’s edge

Some thrive when lust compels their heart to race

 

Compose myself with poised and earnest face

I love your lips when they are wet with wine

The thrill is often found within the chase

 

No one could ever say that I’m straight-laced

It’s safer to take refuge and recoil

Some thrive when lust compels their heart to race

 

I hang on to your scent and to your trace

I all alone beweep my outcast state

The thrill is often found within the chase

 

Reduced to longings primitive and base

Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?

Some thrive when lust compels their heart to race

 

Despite myself I know we will embrace

Before my pen has gleaned my teaming brain

The thrill is often found within the chase

Some thrive when lust compels their heart to race

 

Image : https://unsplash.com/photos/15uadDpdo24