Classic Poem

Villanelle

There seems no good alternative:
I must do what I deplore:
I mean well, but I mean to live.

By corners now I dodge furtive;
From debts I slip thro' many a door:
There seems no good alternative.

Maybe I'll rise superlative
Some day my credit to restore:
I mean well, but I mean to live.

Gone like water thro' a sieve
Is all the cash I won of yore:
There seems no good alternative.

Sure, if I had it I would give
Freely to friend and creditor:
I mean well, but I mean to live.

But now, alas, a fugitive
I must fly to another shore:
There seems no good alternative —
I mean well, but I mean to live.