Villanelle: The Vantage Point

Sitting in my limestone lookout place,

feet in the open char-pit hole again.
Too cold today, but I’ll do it one of these days.

I don’t know. A furious mallard race
down in the water. A sandaled man
sitting in their limestone lookout place.

Ok, so what can you find to praise
in the life of this man, lived all cross-grain?
Too cold today, but I’ll do it one of these days.

One thing that this man likes to do is gaze
far down streets of sorrow, streets of pain
from the vantage of their limestone lookout place.

And what do they see there but their own sad face,
the face of one whose life was lived in vain?
Too cold today, but I’ll do it one of these days.

And let’s suppose that they discover grace,
tasting the bitter savor that remains,
surveying from their limestone lookout place.
Too cold today, but I’ll do it one of these days.