Already we are in the 8th month and today is the birthday of Sara Teasdale (8/8/1884). In this extract from her August Moonrise the poem alludes to this in a very existential, other-end-of-the-telescope way:

…O Beauty, out of many a cup
You have made me drunk and wild
Ever since I was a child,
But when have I been sure as now
That no bitterness can bend
And no sorrow wholly bow
One who loves you to the end?
And though I must give my breath
And my laughter all to death,
And my eyes through which joy came,
And my heart, a wavering flame;
If all must leave me and go back
Along a blind and fearful track
So that you can make anew,
Fusing with intenser fire,
Something nearer your desire;
If my soul must go alone
Through a cold infinity,
Or even if it vanish, too,
Beauty, I have worshipped you.
Let this single hour atone
For the theft of all of me

Love, life, beauty and death are the hallmarks of much of Teasdale’s poetry which is unsurprising given that she lived through wartime as a young woman. Even so she avoids the maudlin in an upbeat way as in this 2 octet poem “The Answer”

“…Be still, I am content,
Take back your poor compassion—
Joy was a flame in me
Too steady to destroy.
Lithe as a bending reed
Loving the storm that sways her—
I found more joy in sorrow
Than you could find in joy.”

And for today’s MTB prompt we are going to write an Octameter – designed by Shelley A. Cephas in 2007

Poetry Style:

• 16 lines
• 2 stanzas of 8 lines each
• 5 syllables per line
• rhyme scheme a/b/c/d/e/d/f/d; g/h/c/g/i/g/d/d.
  (N.B. watch out for those repeat rhymes and where they fall; 2 in the first stanza and 3 in the second stanza)

Poetry Topic: There is no set theme but if you wish to try and write in the style of Sara Teasdale or dedicate a poem to her, with or without epigraph, here are some more of her poems

Reference:
The Octameter Poetry style
(Strictly speaking an Octameter is a line of poetry of 16 syllables and 8 feet so ideally this style should be renamed for the sake of clarity)

So once you have posted your poem according to the guidelines above, do add it to Mr Linky below then go visiting and reading other contributors as that is half the fun of our dVerse gatherings.

[N.B. Mr Linky closes Saturday 3 p.m. EST]