For their love was spent but on fantasies,
In vain they searched, and in vain they waited
Yet on love they blamed their own fallacies
They waited for love to ripen with age
And for ages waited on love unfated,
For their love was spent but on fantasies
The untrodden aisle, the unturned page,
The romance remained unconsummated
Yet on love they blamed their own fallacies
They searched for love via the dreamiest gauge
And gauged their search by which dreams created,
For their love was spent but on fantasies
With pinches of salt, with peppery rage,
The nectared zeal soured, bittered, hated
Yet on love they blamed their own fallacies
Thus in love they braced for the fated stage,
The bitter end of ends, most unsated
For their love, which’s spent but on fantasies,
Yet on love they blamed their own fallacies
Colin Lee
In an era overrun by self-expressions, when, behind the wooing for click rates and wows, every soul but our own is divorced from our participation of arts and culture, blame of the great disconnect is too often laid on anything but ourselves – the lovers who’ve fallen in love with no one but our own fantasies.
Photo Courtesy: bestinterestlaw.com
The Pescetarian Poet 
I loved the repetitive pattern of this piece! Thank you for sharing 🙂
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Thank you, there, though I should claim no credit for the pattern, which is the virtue of the good, old villanelle form, whereby the otherwise naggy repetitions are braided into rondos of melodies. 😉
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Wow. What a thought provoking poem. I really like the structure and repeated lines in this piece. It really brought forth the message you were conveying. Well done.
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Thank you! The villanelle does seem a good fit for it. 🙂
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When love is based on fantasy it is repetitive – it goes around and around. Nicely done.
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Cheers! I’m sure I’ll try more villanelles in the future. 😉
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This is a fantastic villanelle, love how you weaved it together. Maybe we need to see beyond the veils of dreams.
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Your comment is greatly appreciated, Bjorn. The veils of dreams, what a poetic way to put it. The same applies to many other facets of life, I suppose.
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There’s a great circularity here, compressing the wounded wonder of fallacious love — curbed from acting, enacting in fantasy: It’s like a starveling at a feast. Nicely threaded and thrummed.
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Oh my, Brendan. The virtue of the form is so eloquently explained by you it sparkles beguilingly. Thank you!
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Brilliant words, we are largely a self consumed society. The eye is never satisfied. We cry more all day long, never seeing the incredible lack that lies all around us
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Thank you, sir. Appreciate your thought, and so very true. This poem was penned as a reminder to self: to ensure my passion is well directed and not as self-consuming as a dog that chases its own tail.
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I suppose it is hard not to fall in love with one’s own fantasies. Others might be able to see it happening to one better. Nice villanelle. I haven’t tried this form in a while.
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Thanks, Frank. So many of life’s disappointments stem from matching reality against expectations … though on the other hand that may also contribute to some surprises for a pessimist who’s constantly dreading for the worst. Hm. Maybe we can have the villanelle for one of the MTBs? Just a thought.
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It’s a good idea. It has been over two years since we did the villanelle. I have a proposal for next week’s MTB being ottava rima, but I’ll propose the villanelle for the one I host after that, about a month from now.
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Awesome!
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The dVerse Form for All tomorrow will be the villanelle, Colin. I plan to link to this post as an example and as the inspiration for the the prompt.
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That would be my honour, Frank. The first time my wee 3-month-old blog to be linked! Thank you! By the way, Jane Dougherty’s got a handful of beautiful villanelles back in March and April. I must say she was an inspiration for my own attempt. If you haven’t done so, I think you should check them out too. 🙂
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I may have seen Jane Dougherty’s villanelles. I will see if I can find them. She writes well-crafted metrical poetry. I suggested some of her ottava rima poems as an example for others to follow last month.
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Beautiful rhyme and repetition!
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Thank you!
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I especially like the second stanza.
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Glad you like it. Thanks!
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Building on fantasies, it will not last ~ Enjoyed your villanelle form Colin ~
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Thank you, Grace. And thank you for taking the time to host this round!
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A lovely villanelle. It’s a tough form, and you managed it well.
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Thank you, Sarah! Beginner’s luck, I’d say. 😉
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