Villanelle

I heard this remark on the radio about how nobody has ever died of embarrassment, and I've been wanting to try and write a villanelle so I decided that the remark might be a good theme for such a poem.


I now realise just how difficult the form is, but here's my attempt, which I'll probably redraft forever.

(In Scotland having a beamer means you're blushing/very embarrassed)

Beamer

“Embarrassment doesn’t kill, no-one’s ever died!”
At fifteen I believe absolutely that it can.
“You take life way too seriously”, she chides.

She confesses to shop girls, where's her pride?
Old sods from the pub appear for Christmas dinner.
“Embarrassment doesn’t kill, no-one’s ever died!”

“I’ve got great pins!” she roars and away he runs, wide-eyed.
Another boy I'll never see again.
“You take life way too seriously”, she chides.

Clothes can make you disappear; I use mine to hide.
Why can't she tone it down - act her age?
“Embarrassment doesn’t kill, no-one’s ever died!”

“I didn’t kiss the man next door!” - she lies.
Funny how everyone at school says differently.
“You take life way too seriously”, she chides.

“I just held his hand and listened while he cried.”
In a car park, in daylight, in full view?
“Embarrassment doesn’t kill, no-one’s ever died!
You take life way too seriously”, she chides.