K is for Kees

I found this poem by Weldon Kees in 'Staying Alive' and, having had a haiku the other day, I decided to include it in my A to Z challenge as an example of another poetic form; the villanelle has a fixed structures of stanzas with repeated lines within it, which lends itself very beautifully to the way a sentence can mean many things depending on the context. 



Villanelle

The crack is moving down the wall.
Defective plaster isn't all the cause.
We must remain until the roof falls in.

It's mildly cheering to recall
That every building has its little flaws.
The crack is moving down the wall.

Here in the kitchen, drinking gin,
We must accept the damnedest laws.
We must remain until the roof falls in.

And though there's no one here at all,
One searches every room because
The crack is moving down the wall.

Repairs? But how can one begin?
The lease has warnings buried in each clause,
We must remain until the roof falls in.

These nights one hears a creaking in the hall,
The sort of thing that gives one pause.
The crack is moving down the wall.
We must remain until the roof falls in.

(Linking back to the A to Z Challenge)