This poem is a villanelle, a poetic form which originated with French poetry, but has been used since then by poets writing in English. I originally wrote this poem as a sort of challenge, after a friend commented that this form would be difficult to use. (After that comment, I just had to try it out!) I used iambic pentameter because, as I tell my students, it fits so nicely with the English language. Recently, I tweaked the poem a bit, rewriting a few lines, adding punctuation, and such.
Speak Softly, When You Speak My Name Aloud, by Anneliese Kvamme
For gentle winds will that hushed voice resound,
And I will hear thee, o’er the murm’ring crowd.
As God has not on me great charm endowed,
Nor greater knowledge can I dare expound,
Speak softly when you speak my name aloud.
And I still hear thee, o’er the murm’ring crowd.
What need have we for voice or accents loud,
For soul can speak to soul without a sound?
Speak softly, when you speak my name aloud.
Though mayhap time and trial thy head has bowed,
Yet I see thee with light and glory crowned,
And I will hear thee, o’er the murm’ring crowd.
To keep thy name to my heart ever bound:
Speak softly, when you speak my name aloud,
And I will hear thee, o’er the murm’ring crowd.