Villanelle for a Visitor

For those adrift upon this lonely sphere

The magic’s sometimes passing hard to find

I wonder what we’re even doing here

---

But you’re brand new and everything’s still clear

Without the crushing weight of time and mind

For those adrift upon this lonely sphere

---

What can I show you? What won’t disappear?

To be ephemeral would be unkind

I wonder what we’re even doing here

---

Cities built on cities topple down, I fear

Books and art and song will slip behind

For those adrift upon this lonely sphere

---

All faiths and gods, forbidding and severe

Will spin away like others of their kind

I wonder what we’re even doing here

---

I’ll show it all, the lovely and austere

Before the captive moment can unwind

And let you judge what you are doing here

With those adrift upon this lonely sphere

---

Note: A villanelle is a structured form of poetry with five three-line stanzas and one quatrain. The first and third lines of the first stanza repeat in the remaining stanzas.