Barefoot in Rain: A Book of Villanelles

By Amanullah Khan

In those rare moments of my dream,
I saw my youth with fondness, and
I was barefoot in rain, it seems.
Dressed in loincloth of simple theme,
I ran till I was away from land,
In those rare moments of my dream.
Amanullah Khan is passionate about villanelles, a poem focused on a single point that circles around and brings the reader back to the same point. Most likely created in the Italian fields at harvest time in the 1600s, villanelles have been inspiring fans of verse for centuries.
In a thought-provoking book of poems dedicated to villanelles, Khan lyrically reflects on a variety of topics that include current affairs, the challenges of life, and humanity’s interactions with nature. His verse explores humility, modern cities, places of mirth, the baggage of a leader, the bombing in Ukraine, the doomsday clock, the land of Punjab, and much more.
Barefoot in Rain is a diverse collection of poetry that shines a light on the villanelle while exploring life, nature, modern events, and everything in between.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9781663246318

Amanullah Khan

Amanullah Khan is a Pakistani-American physician based in Dallas, Texas. In addition to practicing medicine, he is an accomplished photographer and poet of both English and Punjabi. Dr. Khan is a past president of the Poetry Society of Texas. This is his first volume of poems.

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Copyright © 2022 Amanullah Khan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-4630-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-4631-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022918253

iUniverse rev. date: 09/29/2022

The editorial assistance of Sabrina Khan Perry and

Roxanna Khan Manning is gratefully acknowledged.

To

my granddaughters,

Liliana Chugani and Bray Manning

A Note on the Villanelle

The villanelle focuses on a single point, circles around, and brings you back to the same point. Therefore the beauty of a villanelle lies in keeping you focused. The verse form most likely started in the Italian fields at harvest time in the 1600s.

A villanelle has nineteen lines, with five stanzas of three lines each (tercets) and a sixth stanza of four lines (the quatrain).

The rhyme scheme of the tercets is aba. The first line of the first tercet is repeated as the last line of the second and fourth. The last line of the first tercet is repeated as the last line of the third and fifth.

The