Meaning Of 'Nothing Is More Permanent Than The Temporary'

The title is quite literal. A Greek proverb, “Ουδέν μονιμότερον του προσωρινού” precedes the poem. The English translation – “Nothing is more permanent than the temporary” – recurs throughout, on account of the villanelle structure. Stallings uses this particular form to emphasize the passing of time and how the temporary becomes the permanent. From Stallings’ biography, the reader can infer that the speaker is the poet herself. She is talking about her experience moving from the United States to Greece with her husband. They did not intend to stay for more than a couple years, but that was twelve years prior. Time has past; speaker is telling her story while standing at the end of it. There are some problems with where they are living, but