Villanelle for Three-Legged Chair

I think I recognize you: I'm not sure
but you look so familiar I could swear
I've seen you someplace else, sometime before.

Like shadows cast outside an open door,
like faces glimpsed through veils of falling hair,
I think I recognize you. I'm not sure

of much these days, and this is one thing more
that's slipped my grasp. I can't remember where
I've seen you. Someplace else, sometime before,

we must have waltzed across some ballroom floor
and gone out to the balcony for air...
I think. I recognize you. I'm not sure

if I've forgotten, or if I've made war
on memory. There's things that I can't bear
I've seen. You, someplace else, sometime before

abducted me to some uncharted shore,
a shock like sitting on a three-legged chair.
I thought I recognized you: now I'm sure
I've seen you someplace else, sometime before.

image by Milad Gheisari courtesy of Read Write Poem

Collection available! Knocking from Inside