A resonant echo

the instinct to write is hard to quell
iambic is best, it casts a spell
a resonant echo like a bell

Althea defied a stone-walled cell
what muse would be mine, were I in hell
the instinct to write is hard to quell

my thoughts became dark, and down I fell
impossibly far, a bottomless well
a resonant echo like a bell

but lost in that ink, my thoughts did swell
till pregnant with such a tale to tell
the instinct to write is hard to quell

no idle gift, a tongue-twisting sell
melodic waves, by my ear a shell
a resonant echo like a bell

a rhythmic, narrative villanelle
too dark in truth for a bagatelle
the instinct to write is hard to quell
a resonant echo like a bell