This was a challenge poem...

Cecelia Tan challenged for a short poem about love and magic here and I couldn't resist because I haven't written a villanelle for months.

Love is the spell that changes everything
It makes us better or it makes us worse
whether we're beggar girl or soldier king.

It writes the songs that all musicians sing
and sits beside their chair when they rehearse
Love is the spell that changes everything.

To do without it was to forge the ring
that wrecked the world – the Nibelung's bleak curse.
Whether we're beggar girl or soldier king

It fans our sleep with its all-caring wing.
And for the dying it's the kindest nurse
Love is the spell that changes everything

It is our greatest joy and suffering
It is the source of all our greatest verse
whether we're beggar girl of soldier king

villain's destruction, pure saint's hallowing
It rocks our cradle and it pulls our hearse
Love is the spell that changes everything
whether we're beggar girl or soldier king.