Villanelle for Johnny Cash | Teen Ink

Villanelle for Johnny Cash

January 29, 2015
By VelveteenWriter BRONZE, Montgomery, New York
VelveteenWriter BRONZE, Montgomery, New York
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more.


Do you wonder why I always dress in Black?
The answer lies where the desperate folks tread
It'll make you feel better to turn your back.

Upon facing truth you'd be taken aback
In delusion commonly be truth's stead
Do you wonder why I always dress in black?

So, too, are folks ignorant of what they lack
Good souls to poverty and hunger wed
It'll make you feel better to turn your back.

All around people are found set on a track
They move too quickly to know where they head
Do you wonder why I always dress in black?

You think it's just some left behind by the pack
Hardly can you tell it's very widespread
It'll make you feel better to turn your back.

Humanity is held on by a noose that's slack
Millions exist who've never written nor read
Do you wonder why I always dress in black?

It'll make you feel better to turn your back.


The author's comments:

This is a poem written in Villanelle form as a tribute to Johnny Cash. His song "Man in Black" is an important piece of social commentary that illuminates often neglected issues in our classist culture; this piece attempts to capture that passion.


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