Activity: Write a Villanelle

As it says in Wikipedia, "[a] villanelle...is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third line of the first tercet repeated alternately until the last stanza, which includes both repeated lines." A villanelle should adhere to the following format in which capital letters represent the refrains and lower case letter represent rhymes.

A1
b
A2

a
b
A1

a
b
A2

a
b
A1

a
b
A2

a
b
A1
A2

For a simplified challenge, try writing without the rhyme scheme.

Villanelle

When I forget that I am me

And want to pierce dark skies above

Remind me then how it should be

Unsure what else there is to see   

I’ll want to leave you and your love

When I forget that I am me

And want to break you and break free

And touch you only through a glove

Remind me then how it should be

Save me from darkness that may be

Engulfing me without your love  

When I forget that I am me

You must be strong as you can be 

And stay awake and feed the dove

When I forget that I am me

Remind me then how it should be 

that fluttery birdy-bird feeling that's love

that fluttery birdy-bird feeling that's love
or whatever it is somewhere somehow dot dot dot
rains down every never-ending incessant sometimes

in such and such a season without reason
without wings or wishes or whatnot
that fluttery birdy-bird feeling that's love

above all big and tall tediums and mediums
or even a little itsy-bitsy teeny tiny small knot
rains down every never-ending incessant sometimes

and whew     it's not enough     i need more
all the time     i'm fine     how are you not
that fluttery birdy-bird feeling that's love

or another language     it's where we live
and what we are and what we thought
rains down every never-ending incessant sometimes

and in some way we fly or cry or hold on
or let go of it when we have fought
that fluttery birdy-bird feeling that's love
rains down every never-ending incessant sometimes