Lissadell

Last year we went to Lissadell.
The sun shone over Sligo Bay
And life was good and all was well.

The bear, the books, the dinner bell,
An air of dignified decay.
Last year we went to Lissadell.

This year the owners had to sell—
It calls to mind a Chekhov play.
Once life was good and all was well.

The house is now an empty shell,
The contents auctioned, shipped away.
Last year we went to Lissadell

And found it magical. “We fell
In love with it,” we sometimes say
When life is good and all is well.

The light of evening. A gazelle.
It seemed unchanged since Yeats's day.
Last year we went to Lissadell
And life was good and all was well.

(C)2005, Wendy Cope

A Villanelle Composed Upon Jennifer Aniston’s Answers To Her May 2001 Vanity Fair Interview

A Villanelle Composed Upon Jennifer Aniston’s Answers To Her May 2001 Vanity Fair Interview, With Catalina Island “Glimmering In the Distance”

This was just very much meant to be.
There was something very familiar about it.
But you just never know. What will be, will be.

I didn’t have a fantasy of what marriage would be like. I had no idea.
I was stunned when I was addressed as Mrs. Pitt.
This was just very much meant to be.

We said, ‘This is going to be a grand experiment. We expose ourselves completely.’
Every question comes out — it’s like, here’s the key, have at it!
But you just never know. What will be, will be.

It’s fun to be home. I’m such a nester, and we’re ridiculous homebodies.
This is only a two-bedroom house, and now we’re spilling out of it.
This was just very much meant to be.

Acting is so much fun I don’t think I could give it up completely.
There are so many things I haven’t explored yet.
But you just never know. What will be, will be.

I couldn’t hate my hair more. It’s just not me.
I’m taking every horse vitamin there is to make it grow faster – blue-green algae.
This was just very much meant to be,
But you never know. What will be, will be.

(C)2005, Lizzie Skurnick