This picture is of the Minnesota State Capitol Building, located in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. It houses the Minnesota Senate, Minnesota House of Representatives, the office of the Attorney General and the office of the Governor. The building also includes a chamber for the Minnesota Supreme Court. The building was built by Butler-Ryan Construction and designed by Cass Gilbert and modeled after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome - the unsupported marble dome is the second largest in the world, after Saint Peter's. However, like all capitols with domes in the US, it is also inspired by the idea of domed capitols originating with the United States Capitol dome. Work began on the capitol in 1896, and construction was completed in 1905.

This poem is a Saraband Sonnet.
A Saraband Sonnet is a form that consists of a Tercet + Quatrain + Tercet + closing Quatrain. It can be configured in various styles: English, Italian, Spanish or French, making it extremely flexible. Each stanza can be unique, but here are the basic rules.

Stanza 1: a Tercet, rhyme aba or aaa.

Stanza 2: a Quatrain, any quatrain form or rhyme.
The stanza forms may be mixed, taking on any of the classic forms as shown below.
English: abab or abcb.
Italian: baab.
Spanish: bcbc.
French: bbcc.

Stanza 3: a Tercet, but must be same Tercet form as Stanza 1, and requires at least line 2 of both Tercets to rhyme.

Stanza 4: a Quatrain, any Quatrain form and rhyme.

Any metrical foot.
Any metrical line.
Some authorities insist on eight syllables but this is not cut and dried.
Rhyme scheme: depends on the form chosen.
The Volta the first line of the second Tercet.

This photograph was taken by the author himself on October 18, 2012.

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