Villainelle

[simont]

I cannot choose the wine in front of me.
And yet I can't discount a bluffing play:
The wine in front of you it cannot be.

You think I'm stalling, but you must agree
That while I hope your choice you might betray,
I cannot choose the wine in front of me.

You beat my Turk, a fighting prodigy,
So you might trust your strength to save the day.
The wine in front of you it cannot be.

You beat my Spaniard very skilfully.
So you would put the poison far away:
I cannot choose the wine in front of me.

I know the poison comes from oversea.
Its origin enables me to say
The wine in front of you it cannot be.

I switched the glasses when you couldn't see!
Yet, unresolved, the paradox must stay –
I cannot choose the wine in front of me;
The wine in front of you it cannot be.

(With apologies to William Goldman. It randomly occurred to me in the bath that this particular poetic form and piece of dialogue were a strikingly good fit for each other.)

Comments

[oneplusme.livejournal.com]

That's quite the most obnoxiously sneaky pun I've seen all week. Bravo, sir!

[twigletzone.livejournal.com]

Bad person. No biscuit. :)

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

Simon!

[songster.livejournal.com]

<THWAP>

Fool.

Mind if I share this?

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

*grin* Very nice.

[antifuchs.livejournal.com]

That's just excellent work. Nice bit of synchronicity there: the theme music of Princess Bride was our wedding entrance theme yesterday (-:

[isihac.livejournal.com]

You bad, bad man...

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, nearly, but too repetitive for a good villanelle. The secret to a villanelle is to come up with ways to repeat the words (or, you know, ish) while varying the sense. Otherwise it's just a poem written to a particular scheme.

S.

[yvesilena.livejournal.com]

EPIC WIN!

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

This is utterly fantastic.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

quizzicalsphinx sent me. This is freaking awesome.

[imariistarre.livejournal.com]

The Villainelle and the Haiku are my two absolute favorite forms of poetry. I'm completely obnoxious about following the rules - you even kept yours to 10 syllables per line didn't you? And yet it reads well. When I try that, I end up using so many thesaurus synonyms that the poem makes no sense by the time I'm done with it LOL.