By Jane Valencia
Download a pdf of the poem set to music
Years ago, in the dark of the year, a friend shared with me a dream she’d had. I quickly forgot the nature of her dream, but a phrase she spoke sparked my imagination: “Take, for what is given.” I set to work on a poem. Except for the occasional haiku, I write free verse. Why I chose to write a villanelle remains a mystery to me.
The villanelle dates back to 15th and 16th century France and Italy. Nineteen lines long, this poetic form consists of five “tercets” (three-line stanzas), and a quatrain (a four-line stanza). It has two refrains – two lines that repeat throughout the poem. The first and third lines of the first tercet alternate as the last lines of the remaining tercets. In the quatrain, these two lines conclude the poem.
The strict form of the villanelle includes a rhyme pattern, with the first and third lines of each stanza rhyming, and the second lines rhyming with each other across the stanzas (ABA). In the quatrain, the fourth line rhymes with the first and third lines (ABAA). My poem loosely follows this pattern.
Perhaps the best way to experience a villanelle may be to briefly note the rules, then let them go. Read the poem aloud, feel the shape of the words in your mouth, and listen.
Over the years, I’ve wondered who “this child” is in the poem. In different seasons of my life, I’ve imagined a gestating child, a dream of a child (my second daughter was born two years after this poem came to be), one’s inner child of wonder and play, a creative expression, a fanciful post-harvest scene, or the coming of a new year. From my family’s faith tradition as we approach the Advent season, the Christ-child emerges as a likely possibility.
A poem leans in and whispers in your ear. I leave the “who” or “what” to you and your own dreaming to decide.
Take, for What Is Given
Take, for what is given
Hands outstretched to you
Celebrate this child within
Glimpse the breath of heaven
A hushed gray-golden hue
Take, for what is given
Taste the light, handwoven
Winter grace from pumpkin moon
Celebrate this child within
Ah! The soil is leavened
And here’s a rich, leaf-simmered stew
Take, for what is given
Blessings from the raven
Pearl stones from fields of truth
Take, for what is given
The end is the beginning
And see – the path is new
Take, for what is given
Celebrate this child within
