Villanelle on Living
Our bodies hum with the mutability of time
Each breath is waiting prelude
The cost of living is impossible to refine
Hold close aroma of greening leaf
Precision of rising light and unfurl of morning dew
Our bodies hum with the mutability of time
Dusk comes easily in times of grief
That echoes into a verb that sags and accrues
The cost of living is impossible to refine
Our cells are constellations yet singularly brief
Every cascade of interactions necessary to conclude
Our bodies hum with the mutability of time
Leave not bitterness and loss when you debrief
Let salt elucidate the plentitude
The cost of living is impossible to refine
Grind your coffee, teeth, mere disbelief
Feel your flesh and bones regardless of rectitude
Our bodies hum with the mutability of time
The cost of living is impossible to refine
Each breath is waiting prelude
The cost of living is impossible to refine
Hold close aroma of greening leaf
Precision of rising light and unfurl of morning dew
Our bodies hum with the mutability of time
Dusk comes easily in times of grief
That echoes into a verb that sags and accrues
The cost of living is impossible to refine
Our cells are constellations yet singularly brief
Every cascade of interactions necessary to conclude
Our bodies hum with the mutability of time
Leave not bitterness and loss when you debrief
Let salt elucidate the plentitude
The cost of living is impossible to refine
Grind your coffee, teeth, mere disbelief
Feel your flesh and bones regardless of rectitude
Our bodies hum with the mutability of time
The cost of living is impossible to refine
May / June 2023
Ellen Zhang is a student at Harvard Medical School who has studied under Pulitzer Prize winner Jorie Graham, poet Rosebud Ben-Oni, and poet Josh Bell. She has been recognized by the 2022 DeBakey Poetry Prize, 2022 Dibase Poetry Contest, and as 2019 National Student Poet Semifinalist. Her works appear or are forthcoming in Rappahannock Review, Southword Literary Journal, Hekton International, and elsewhere.
Art: Jennifer Peart. Cosmos Grove, acrylic on canvas paper, 7”x5”