Although the difficulty of using words to describe pain is a fairly common theme in medical humanities, it can also be argued that words are insufficient to re-capture any aspect of physicality, including sexual and romantic passions of the flesh. A delightful love song about the apparent incommensurability of body and language, "Villanelle" suggests that the emotional and physical connections people make are not susceptible to language ("speechless," "unlettered," "wordless"). At the same time, the poem's passion is fueled by the strict form, suggesting that poetry may allow celebration of what we do not understand and a framing, if not reunification, of what has been separated.