The Light Behind the Trees

The hope that sets us free

Jul 07, 2026

A Villanelle

Light shining rays through the oak trees- photo by Robert G. Metivier, 2026, author — Photo, 2026, Channing Park by Robert G Metivier, Author

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The hope that sets us free, 
That place we dare to look, 
The light behind the trees.

As we are wont to be
Enslaved, we long forsook 
The hope that sets us free.

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How can we come to see, 
Lost within the wood,
The light behind the trees,

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From all eternity, 
There, just beyond the brook,
The hope that sets us free.

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Deception made its plea, 
Darkness did long obstruct
The light behind the trees,

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But once again belief 
Returned its graced outlook, 
The hope that sets us free,
The light behind the trees.

Villanelle:

A 19-line poem of fixed form consisting of five tercets and a final quatrain with two rhymes. The first and third lines of the first tercet alternate as a refrain and form the final couplet of the quatrain. [French, from the Italian villanella]

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