Don’t Stress

“Don’t Stress” Villanelle, Metrical Poetry Workshop, 2002

Do not let things get to you dear, don’t stress
About events you cannot work out right.
Take time out for yourself when life’s a mess.

You will make yourself sick. The doctors press
More drugs than needed, which is not too bright.
Do not let things get to you dear, don’t stress.

Mom says “Go treat yourself to a new dress,
But make sure you don’t pick one that’s too tight.”
Take time out for yourself when life’s a mess.

Professors monitor the slow progress
Of papers and reports you’ve yet to write.
Do not let things get to you dear, don’t stress.

Stop missing the lost lover’s sweet caress
And wishing for what’s gone with all your might.
Take time out for yourself when life’s a mess.

Love who loves you, not those you can’t impress.
Your life can be long, live without a fight.
Do not let things get to you dear, don’t stress.
Take time out for yourself when life’s a mess.

What is a Villanelle? A nineteen-line poem with two rhymes throughout, consisting of five tercets and a quatrain, with the first and third lines of the opening tercet recurring alternately at the end of the other tercets and with both repeated at the close of the concluding quatrain.

Disclaimer: I loathe writing metrical poetry. I did the best I could, but wasn’t really happy with anything I wrote during that class. I got a B for my work in class. I respect those who can write metrical poetry and those who enjoy it.