To Both my Mothers, Thank You

I had two mothers who gave life to me,
born, then adopted, before I was one.
Now I'm a branch on each family tree.

My first mother was a little too free.
Sixteen years, and not prepared for a son
I had two mothers who gave life to me.

The mom I knew ached for someone like me,
and three months on, the adoption was done.
Now I'm a branch on each family tree.

The sixteen-year-old was too blind to see
the likely result from a night of fun.
I had two mothers who gave life to me.

The mother I knew bounced me on her knee,
and soon did the same with a second son.
Now I'm a branch on each family tree.

Both moms helped provide a good life to me.
One gave a chance to another someone.
I had two mothers who gave life to me.
Now I'm a branch on each family tree.


A villanelle is a 19-line poem with a specific structure that includes five tercets (three-line stanzas) and a quatrain (four-line stanza). The poem has two refrains and two repeating rhymes, and the first and third lines of the first tercet alternate at the end of each subsequent stanza until the last stanza, which includes both repeated lines. The rhyme scheme is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA.