A Villanelle
by Cristina Nehring (March 2026)
=
=
I checked my watch and wandered through;
The gates of hell were open wide;
I kept on going through the flames that grew.
–
It was my moment; my lover could not be replaced by another so true.
He preceded me through those infamous gates
I checked my watch and wandered through.
–
I knew I was early; I was happy to queue
To see him ahead, my heart’s costly love;
I just kept on walking through the flames that grew.
–
He was a quarter century older than I, I knew;
I feared for his passing each hour most days,
But when he traversed those damned gates, I checked my watch and I followed him through.
–
My beloved, I need you:
Let me find your burnt hand
I just kept on walking through the flames that grew.
–
Never in the afterlife could I eschew
Under any conditions my passion for you,
Which is why I checked my watch and wandered through
To hell with you. I kept on walking through the flames that grew.
–
–
Table of Contents
Cristina Nehring‘s most recent book is The Child Who Never Spoke: 23 1/2 Lessons in Fragility. She is also the author of A Vindication of Love which made the front page of the New York Times Book Review as well as two books in French. She writes for Atlantic, Harper’s, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. She lives in Paris with her daughter. See more at www.cristinanehring.net.
Follow NER on Twitter @NERIconoclast
One Response
Another fine poem. You do not dissappoint.