February 2006  

Country Song Villanelle    ©    by    Alice Cave
 

What happens happens and you don’t know why.
You work real hard and you still get canned,
Sometimes you wonder if it’s worth it to try.

Then you are in love but get dumped by the guy,
It doesn’t seem to matter what you’ve planned,
what happens happens and you don’t know why.

And you can’t resist your mother’s fresh baked pies,
You end up too fat to catch a new man,
Sometimes you wonder if it’s worth it to try.

Your teenage daughter, once sweet and shy,
has shaved her head and joined a punk rock band.
What happens happens and you don’t know why.

And to cheer yourself up, you get your hair dyed,
But it comes out bright orange, every strand,
Sometimes you wonder if it’s worth it to try.

Sometimes your life just seems to go awry,
“Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.”
What happens happens and you don’t know why.
Sometimes you wonder if it’s worth it to try.

Previously published in the North Carolina Poetry Society's
Pinesong: Awards 2005. Used with the poet's permission.
NOTICE: The copyright © for this poem belongs to the poet.