Faces red from wind and rain,
squeezed in unaccustomed suits,
Corlett, Callow, Quayle, Cain

mingle on the tented plain -
acclamations and salutes.
Faces red from wind and rain,

stages in the long campaign,
merry peasants, big galoots,
Corlett, Callow, Quayle, Cain.

Men like this, they sweat and strain,
dipping sheep and docking moots,
faces red from wind and rain.

They take today to entertain
themselves with frivolous pursuits,
Corlett, Callow, Quayle, Cain.

Tomorrow they'll be out again,
man and nature in cahoots,
faces red from wind and rain,
Corlett, Callow, Quayle, Cain.

I like this, and the music you make out of the men's names.  S1, S2 and S6 flow particularly well.  One thing I find a little distracting is the sudden enjambment in S5; I wonder whether it would flow better endstopped like the rest of the poem (I think "entertain" can be intransitive, can't it? so "they take today to entertain" can stand as a clause).  Or perhaps if S4 began "Men like this, who sweat and strain", you could run the sentence right through S4 to S5 and so the "entertain" line wouldn't stand out as unusual.  That way you'd also lose the slightly awkward "they" at the start of S4.  (On the other hand, I know some people who would see such a run-on thought between stanzas as a fault in a villanelle.)  Anyway, nice work!

Thanks for that, Thomas. I'm rather vague on the rules appertaining to villanelles. I'm just glad that, having stumbled into one, I managed to find my way out at the other end.

Anyway, I'll have a think about your helpful suggestions.

Cheers

David

very much enjoyed, david. tom

 Thank'ee kindly, sorr. [Tugs forelock in time-honoured agricultural labourer's fashion.]

David, two relatively weak points, for me, are "Men like this" and the combination "entertain" and "frivolous." Tom

I'm surprised this hasn't been picked.  It's a very nice melding of form and tone.

Rick

That's very nice of you, Rick. Thank you.

Tom, sorry, I'd missed your previous remarks. If the points you refer to bother you, they bother me. I'll have a look at them.

Cheers

David

A different sort of poem for the Front Page this week. I too, like the tone, the rhythm of this piece.

congrats, David! enjoying this some more now. Tom

Lovely sounds, wonderful pick!

I am extremely surprised and very flattered to find this here.

Thank you very much.

Cheers all

David

.

Nice to see this on the front page - nicely done David!  Michelle

this is the first structured poem I've read on the front page. 
good job!