My heart wanted what
it wanted despite
you’re seeming to leave
and be lost to me
but you were still there
and now, don’t you see
I too have remained-
– all fidelity.
Those first months did
my life course change.
in ways I’d not believe
– your true self amid
so many revealed
and when others hid
that loving from me
your truth I’d still see…
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, invites us to write an Octameter for August and Sara Teasdale – it being the 8th month and the birthday of Sara Teasdale (8/8/1884). “Teasdale’s work has been characterized by its simplicity and clarity, her use of classical forms, and her passionate and romantic subject matter.” [https://poets.org/poet/sara-teasdale] and as Laura points out “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…”
This poem is a homage to Sara Teasdale.
I enjoyed your homage to Sara Teasdale, Andrew, and I love the direct address, especially in the lines:
‘but you were still there
and now, don’t you see
I too have remained-
– all fidelity.’
Thanks, Kim, I was trying to emulate her simplicity and directness…
A brilliant octometer Frewin.Longing and resolve nicely entertwined
much♡love
Thanks for visiting Gillena
Much Love xx
Beautiful, Andrew. “your truth I’d still see…” 💙
Thank you so much, Merril…
Wonderfully rendered poetry filled with longing and truth.
Thanks, Truedessa…
This reads like one of those poems that’s too full of emotion to be constrained by a narrow form. I’d be tempted to give it wings.
You may be right Jane – I know we are mostly encouraged to edit down and distill but sometimes a poem needs to go the other way…
This is marvellous! I enjoyed reading and re-reading this poem and am so glad you did a homage poem because it fits so beautifully since you kept to the simplicity and clarity of Teasdale too. I
Thanks, Laura, I enjoyed discovering Teasdale so an homage in the fullest sense of the prompt was the way to go…
Skillful homage, Andrew!
Very nice, Andrew. I wasn’t sure if it would work out in the beginning.
Nothing like a cliffhanger, Robbie…
I can taste the longing in this, Andrew.