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.