Mad Man’s Villanelle

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There’s a war out there, can’t you hear?
The guns thunder, the fires breathe,
And near, near, our deaths draw near.

Pity, such valor, such thoughts cavalier,
Soon, soon, will come the gallows’ decree;
There’s a war out there, can’t you hear?

The bars are full, flutes clink, many a cheer.
While the town goes on in its merry spree,
Near, near, our deaths draw near.

Is that a battle-cry I overhear?
My blood withers, my mind a seethe;
There’s a war out there, can’t you hear?

Undertaker! Here comes the musketeer;
That grim knock, is that Azrael’s glee?
Near, near, my death draws near.

I will sit and craft a poem here;
A footnote to my life’s debris.
There’s a war – can’t you, can’t you, hear?
Near, near, my death draws near.