The Last Whale (A Villanelle)

[Dr Fogg]

The Last Whale.

I searched the seas and cried to no avail.
My species now butchered for men's greed.
I am the last and only whale.

Are you happy now? My kind is doomed to fail,
You've proved yourself superior, done the awful deed.
I searched the seas and cried to no avail.

Do you revel in your foul betrayal?
As I search in vane through blighted ocean's weed.
I am the last and only whale.

I cry for all my lost ones, on your harpoons you did impale
Processed in your factory ships, they bleed.
I searched the seas and cried to no avail.

But my cries are for mankind too, for you will also fail,
you consume the very mother earth and all its seed.
I am the last and only whale.

Hear me now; avoid your coffins final nail,
Nurture this world in which you feed.
I searched the seas and cried to no avail.
I am the last and only whale.

Dr Fogg.


^{Copyright ©2009. HW Harborne}

[Jamie~poetshare.forumotion.com]

Oh, wow, Foggy, fantastic piece. I think this is one of the hardest forms to pull off properly, too, yet the Villanelle form just works so eloquently here adding such lyricism to this piece. *exalt and more, my friend.

[Artemis]

Gosh I agree ...this is hard to do without it sounding clinical, but you didi it and suberbly. Exalt from me too, I loved this sad but lovely write Bill, K xxxx

[polonius]

A whale alone in a pod is as much of a wail as one hand clapping.

[Harklight]

Ah, at last I've found where to respond to this poem! Villanelle aside for a moment, this is a very moving write, foggy. The whale's perceptions are like it is breeching over our heads: we might feel the spray but we don't hear it's song. Technically, the villanelle is done with great panache. It doesn't sound or read as rigidly as the form dictates and yet it actually IS. Exalt!! H x