It�s easy to fall in love with yourself,
write a story about your life and your work.
To raise a child, it takes a villanelle.

Act I finds you married and happy as hell,
climbing the ladder, working like a Turk.
It�s easy to fall in love with yourself.

In Act II, you�re getting into the part�more than you can tell,
you�re a jerk. But who�s complaining? Look at the perks!
To raise a child, it takes a villanelle.

Then you wake up one day and you can�t even sell
your own kids on themselves�you think it�s just one of their quirks.
It�s easy to fall in love with yourself.

You�ve spent all your time on the complicated plot�you thought
      that�s what would sell.
But you�ve lost the characters somewhere in the murk.
To raise a child, it takes a villanelle.

The answer is not in cutting the acts or adding in order to tell
what you can only feel in verse.
It�s easy to fall in love with yourself.
To raise a child, it takes a villanelle.



� 2004 by Terry Lucas