Spectator competition winners: spring villanelles

The latest challenge was to compose a spring villanelle. The villanelle – established in France in the 16th century by Jean Passerat with his poem about a lost turtledove – lends itself to themes of loss and time passing, and many of you chose to reflect on the bleaker side of spring. But this overall somewhat gloomy mood was more than offset by how well you rose to the form’s technical challenges. Congratulations all round, but especially to unlucky losers Noah Heyl, R.M. Goddard, Philip Roe, and Jasper and Julia Griffin. The winners earn £30 each.

Alan Millard A green haze hints that spring might soon appear, The trees come into leaf, unhurried, slow, Like Brexit, always coming, never here.

The sky grows blue, the grey begins to clear And as the flowers’ colours start to show, A green haze hints that spring might soon appear.

Too long we’ve suffered February’s drear With March and April still in winter’s tow Like Brexit, always coming, never here.

And where is May with all her promised cheer? Her blossoms still stay tightly closed, although A green haze hints that spring might soon appear.

It hovers close, a presence almost near, A seed in frozen soil that’s loath to grow Like Brexit, always coming, never here.

Just like an engine stuck in bottom gear That inches forwards caught in winter’s snow, A green haze hints that spring might soon appear Like Brexit, always coming, never here.

Bill Greenwell The sun unpeels.