Free Verse · Family

Steady

by The QuillOak Editors

You taught me knots and engine sounds,

and how to lose at chess with grace,

but mostly, without saying so,

you taught me how to stay.

Steady as a workbench,

sure as Saturday —

whatever else the weather did,

you never blew away.

Original poem © QuillOak — personal sharing is permitted.

“Steady” by The QuillOak Editors — quilloak.com/poems/steady

Quick facts

Poem: Steady
Poet: The QuillOak Editors
Length: 8 lines
Form: Free Verse
Themes: Family, Love

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 8 lines · 2 quatrains
End rhyme: No regular perfect end rhyme. The poem may still be using slant rhyme, assonance, or internal echo, which this check does not score.
Line length: Lines run 5-8 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a free verse, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Original QuillOak text. Personal sharing is permitted; other reuse requires permission.

Author record: The QuillOak Editorstoday
Source record: QuillOak originalSteady, authored for QuillOak by The Quillery
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 0771060b2f93a542…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Free Verse Family Love

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