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.

A villanelle is a French verse form with 5 tercets and quatrain. The second line in each stanza rhymes.