A Dainty Thing''s the Villanelle

    By William Ernest Henley

    A DAINTY thing''s the Villanelle,

    Sly, musical, a jewel in rhyme,

    It serves its purpose passing well.

    A double-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.