Villanelle of the Stairs after Dylan Thomas Move surefooted, beloved, through the tears, the couplet is a sonnet’s final grace, climb fiercely into those high elder years. One-by-one bid adieu to stubborn peers, the dimming echoes of that youthful race, move surefooted, beloved, through the tears. Your children, old; your grandchildren, so fair, exalting beauty that you touched in place, climb fiercely into those high elder years. Photographs in frames are Autumn mirrors, the Now and Here becomes your mind’s embrace, move surefooted, beloved, through the tears. Fond memories shuffling far and near, the warm familiar smile gone without trace,…