8 – two spheres stacked,
one of two imperial months,
July, August, the first
7th and 8th months of the year.
Each year towards summer’s end,
month eight stirs my meditations
as we approach month number nine,
on our Gregorian calendar September –
Sept – the Latin seven,
hints at the history of telling annual time,
an antiquated ten-month year.
September, October, November, December,
ordinal numbers: seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth,
name months nine, ten, eleven, and twelve,
the last four untimely months of a year.
We honor Augustus, Rome’s second Caesar,
as the namesake of our current month,
an emperor who conquered and ruled
an empire by military might.
The month of August,
the reminder that the remainder
of the year is out of whack, and
in time, the rule of an autocrat
will become – HAZMAT.