Thanks for posting, Ralph and Ann :-)
Ralph, I'm pleased you like my attempt and I like the various dudes throughout the villanelle, if that's the right term.
Ann, I particularly like 'the chicken of Hell / in a sauce of rich yellow brimstone'. It reminds me of curry nights while I lived in Selly Oak, lol.
My next one is inspired by
Eiluned Lewis's 'We Who Were Born' (posted on Poets' Graves perhaps a couple of years ago). Of course King Curlew is not to be confused with King Koala.
King Curlew
Let's go and see
a lordly thing –
in marshy realms,
a splendid king;
he wears a robe
of grey and gold,
his nose is keen,
his eyes are bold.
By day he wades
the marshland dregs
on long-toed feet
below slim legs;
he spears a crab
within the mud
and has his feast
of flesh and blood.
His bed is bare
till February,
that's when he calls
Cur-lee! Cur-lee!
He lures a lady
to his home;
they'll raise four heirs
in richest loam.