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The story of a night-time cup of tea

What is that? The intruder alarm? It has dragged me from a restless sleep I'm safe as houses, not at risk of harm Must keep my head, at all costs remain calm With all that din I don't know why I creep What is that? The intruder alarm Over now, hope my tea works like a charm It's certainly no cause to weep I'm safe as houses, not at risk of harm Just four numbers it took to disarm The code was lost, next time I'll safely keep Why did I wake? The intruder alarm Odd things come to mind like the 'funny farm' That brings me round to counting sheep I'm safe as houses, no risk at all of harm Confusion, lots of noise, sweaty palm All over as I let these tea leaves steep What was it? Just a false alarm I'm safe as houses, no risk here of harm

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Hilda Greenhough

Date: 8/16/2024 10:02:00 AM

I'd check it out. Noises at night ruin a good night's rest. Oh well.

Di11y Da11y
Date: 8/16/2024 3:17:00 PM

They do indeed

Lin Lane

Date: 8/15/2024 8:23:00 AM

Alarm or not, I seem to wake at nearly the same time each morning. No tea has ever put me back to sleep. I've learned to live with early morning rising and appreciate it for allowing me to hear songbirds singing as dawn paints my world... before anyone else sees it. Great job on the Villanelle, Dilly.

Di11y Da11y
Date: 8/15/2024 1:04:00 PM

Thank you Lin, it's a little unusual content wise but I had the headspace for attempting a form as everyone else was asleep. I had a long spate of being awake between 2 and 4 but I usually get to at least 5:30 now. Thank you for the encouraging words

Clive Culverhouse

Date: 8/15/2024 7:10:00 AM

I'm usually out for the count. The repetition works well here I thought, at night if you can't sleep one's mind does repeat silly or out-of-proportion thoughts so I felt it was very relevant.

Di11y Da11y
Date: 8/15/2024 7:27:00 AM

To be honest I wasn't at all scared, just irritated haha - it's not the first time and I already know it needs the back up battery replacing (but I only feel motivated to do that for about 30 minutes haha). I did stay up all night though, but was all trance like in the quiet with my cup of tea thinking about how I hadn't ensured I'd picked words that had enough rhymes haha. It worked quite well though considering the randomness of my start. I was hoping to immediately be a disciplined type of person after completing it but I'm back to being a chancer :) thanks for your comment, always nice to see you

David Kavanagh

Date: 8/15/2024 6:39:00 AM

You really can write a poem about anything and everything, even in Villanelle form at half past dark, nothing worse than alarms accidentally tripping in the middle of the night, (funny farm) sounds about right lol! I’ve had a few of these head wrecking incidents myself in the past, cheers David

Di11y Da11y
Date: 8/15/2024 6:59:00 AM

I do have a fondness for half past dark to be fair (less so as 6am rolls round). I did my best to ignore it but even when ours was switched off they were going off everywhere else for a bit. Apparently local posts say it was a big flash and the sky looked like aliens landing haha - missed that bit though unfortunately. I'm quite confident that I'm not an aliens type lol :) thanks

Ink Empress

Date: 8/15/2024 3:42:00 AM

You did villanelle so well dear dd, i usually dont like refrains, but i do somewhat try these forms, and i must say your refrains flows so well with the rest that it didnt sound odd but rather beautiful altho it is about something like a false alarm, recently i went through one literally in dubai, false fire alarm, imagine i had to run from 14th floor , something like that all the way down to know it was a false one! Thought of that as i read this, loved it: hope you got some sleep. Hugs

Di11y Da11y
Date: 8/15/2024 5:48:00 AM

Gosh that sounds scary! Mine was caused by a solar storm (I hear) causing a brief power cut. I stayed up from 3:30ish in the end, so I'm tired now :) I'd spotted Jaymee had done a villanelle and I've done them in the past, so had another go. Thanks for your encouragement x

Tom Cunningham

Date: 8/14/2024 9:42:00 PM

Wow, I’m not the only one up at this ungodly hour lol. Glad it was a false alarm. Tom

Di11y Da11y
Date: 8/14/2024 9:48:00 PM

Thanks Tom! Yeah, tricky to get back to sleep after nonsense like that :)