Month of Poetry #26: Australia Day villanelle

It is my habit to write a villanelle to mark 26 January each year, which is currently Australia's national day. I try not to repeat rhyming sounds, as otherwise there is a temptation to revisit the same territory. This rules out the use of "ing", "asion / ation", "eers" and "and" as rhyming suffixes. It's also never a good idea to use plurals as the rhyme, so I avoid "s" sounds as well.

Here is 2015's effort. It's sadder and less rageful than previous years', and, I think, a little more despairing.

Australia Day Villanelle 2015

the sky broods, sulking, with a clouded face
a prince is knighted, and the song is sung;
other stories now are vanished without trace.

a continent than spins in time and space
clinging to the myth it's somehow young;
the sky broods, sulking, with a clouded face.

the rhetoric that rules allows no grace
all charity far from the throne is flung;
other stories now are vanished without trace.

playing to a self-deluded base
who cannot see how they too will be stung
the sky broods, sulking, with a clouded face.

the narrative that claims that life's a race
but fails to say the common prize is dung;
other stories now are vanished without trace.

as delicate and wistful as old lace
faint vision of what could be true is hung;
the sky broods, sulking, with a clouded face.
other stories now are vanished without trace.

- Kathy,  26/1/15