Echo for Narcissus

Echo for Narcissus: A Villanelle

Can love be wrong that sets your soul alight? 

Pale reflection froze you in the mirror:

Narcissus comes undone for your delight.

’Twas a god’s curse ensnared my heart’s true sight,

that’s how she bade him stay all day to hear her:

Is love so wrong that sets your soul alight? 

Let the reflection in your eyes take flight;

Trapped in the glass, find your desires freer:

Narcissus comes undone for your delight.

How yearning burns up all your appetite

and leeches every color, crystal clear:

Can love be wrong that sets your soul alight? 

This passion reignites with every slight

each switch a stitch to bind with watery fear:

Narcissus comes undone for your delight.

His life now sapped away to reunite

heart & flesh in strange new hemisphere:

Can love be wrong that sets your soul alight? 

Narcissus came undone for your delight.

-Rebbekah Vega-Romero