A Poet's Journey

(How Far Can You Go?)

By Fox-Trot-9

March / Nove Otto: Divine

The crimes committed with this pen

Over the heads of blameless men

   Entangled me in bastard shame;

Regretting how I tore apart

Respected poeple with my art,
   I bear the heavy weight of blame,

Sharing with none the fellowship

Handed to better peers in friendship
   Under the promise of fair game.

My pride, the curse that has me chained,

Abused the trust that I had gained,

   Never to be rekindled. Fame

Tempted my pride to snobbery

Over my peers that disagree,
   Forming opinions with the aim

Of showing off my matchless verse,

Reducing theirs to something worse,
   Giving them grounds to do the same.

In infamy, I live alone,

Villain to everyone I've known,
   Entombed in hatred when my name

Dances upon the moving tongue.

Indeed, to all except the young,
   Villain shall be my only claim;

I'm then surprised when you approach

Not just to give me more reproach:
   Exonerating, you proclaim:

"To err is human, to forgive divine."

—Alexander Pope

(To be continued...)

A/N: Whew! That was REALLY tough, but well worth it... ( ^_^ ) Obviously, I won't rest on my laurels... Just because I already know this form inside and out doesn't mean I can't push my limits... And trust me, this piece definitely pushed my limits... Anyway, I was debating whether I should keep to the syllable count on the 8th line at the expense of perfect scansion, or add an extra unstressed syllable to perfect the flow... I chose the latter option, just because I've done so many nove otto that I can afford to bend the rules a bit... Hehehehehe... A bit of hubris on my part, which actually goes with the context of this peice... A win-win for me! ( ^_^ ) Anyway, hope you enjoyed this peice!