View from the Passenger Side (A Villonnet)

On teaching my son to drive.

My heart is pounding faster with each mile.
Adrenaline is flowing furiously,
exampled by the sweat now on my brow
yet I am forced to don this peaceful smile.

This task of teaching one to drive's a trial,
augmented by the angst of pain and death;
we now approach the freeway entrance ramp
my heart is pounding faster with each mile.

His day of birth was but a little while
ago; but here he’s standing, nearly man,
but still a boy, requesting for the keys
yet I am forced to don this peaceful smile.

My heart is pounding faster with each mile,
as this, my son, drives toward the future’s light
yet I am forced to don this peaceful smile.

© D. Allen Jenkins

Author's Note

This is a Villonnet, a form I created in 2005. A Villonnet is a hybrid of the Villanelle and the Sonnet. It has the Iambic Pentameter of both, but holds the four-stanza/line structure of the sonnet, while utilizing the two-line rhyme nature of the villanelle. The final stanza replaces the sonnet couplet with a typical villanelle tercet.