Worlds apart
Heard voices in each other's head
Tongue tied is the stranger's heart 

Face to face they spoke of art
The mongrel and the thoroughbred
Worlds apart 

A feverish chart
Two moist dots kept an invalid bed
Tongue tied is the stranger's heart 

Belle lettres folded like a dart
Telling beads on a blooded thread
Worlds apart 

A fearful start
Guardian angels with their worn out tread
Tongue tied is the stranger's heart 

When Eve disturbed the apple cart
Lovers flung themselves unwed
Worlds apart
Tongue tied is the stranger's heart

19 thoughts on “The Stranger’s heart”

1. Oh, I LOVE the second and third stanzas!

   1. really appreciate your comment as each stanza was a struggle – thank you ❤

2. While reading this I imagine two people who are very different, “worlds apart”, and yet somehow communicating though strangers. The details fill in some of the questions. I wonder are these two sharing a room in a hospital because of the “feverish chart” and “invalid” one with a book of “belles letres” and the other with a rosary. I liked the lines: “Telling beads on a blooded thread” and “When Eve disturbed the apple cart
   Lovers flung themselves unwed”. Very nice.

   1. thank you Frank for the challenge and interesting interpretation. They are perhaps both a love sick couple and strangers to each other. I kept the rhymes simple as I had to focus hard on format! Must try Villanelle a few more times to get the hang of it

3. Cleverly crafted! I like your variations on metre and line lengths.

   1. oh thank you Rosemary – had to keep the brevity of the first lines in repetition but I struggled with the constraints of rhyme

4. Really love the free verse style of a villanelle… the world’s apart and the mongrel and the thoroughbred… (got me thinking of Lady and the tramp)…

   1. Thanks for that Björn- I see now how I dealt with the constraints of rhyme in this difficult format

5. Love the shortened verses (worlds apart) but still keeping the rhyming pattern for the villanelle ~
   This is my favorite part:

   Belle lettres folded like a dart
   Telling beads on a blooded thread
   Worlds apart

   A fearful start

   1. thank you Grace – wasn’t’ sure if that worked or not

6. I feel the separation of two people grown apart. Haunting!

   1. and the union of strangers

7. I enjoued this! It says just enough that we can sort of insert ourselves into some of these scenarios. I especially liked this line: “Guardian angels with their worn out tread.”

   1. re-worked that line a bit to avoid the Forster title – still unsure so thank you

      1. I didn’t even make that association!

8. One could feel the emotion and passion in two hearts yet ‘Tongue tied is the stranger’s heart’. I love the way you’ve used the form.

   1. glad that came through and was not lost in the struggle for form!

9. “Guardian angels with their worn out tread” — how I love this line! We ask so much of our guardian angels….this line really points that out. Worlds apart are these two, the mongrel and the thoroughbred. Tough tough form — you’ve done well by it!

   1. Oh yes and we tread where they would fear to go! Thanks for your encouraging words Lilian

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