Roll Down The Hills With Me, a Villanelle

By Stephanie Mesler

Roll down the hills with me, let’s go home.  

We’ve been exposed to the sun far too long.

It’s almost dark and the forests moan.

Maybe another day, another year, we will roam

beyond this circle of hills, away from their song. 

Roll down the hills with me, let’s go home.

The light slips away now, day is done.

At dusk, we will hear their arrival, the ghoulish throng.

It’s almost dark and the forests moan.

Come with me through the dreary gloam,

Alone, I am puny; together, we are strong.

Roll down the hills with me, let’s go home.

We will land on the valley floor, in the brome,

before night falls, back where we belong.

It’s almost dark and the forests moan.

Together, wrapped in twilight, let’s scamper home.

Let’s be abed before Llyr sounds his midnight gong.  

Roll down the hills with me, let’s go home.

It’s almost dark and the forests moan.  

Roll Down The Hills With Me, a Villanelle is © Stephanie Mesler, 2023