Analysis of BORROWED DREAMS
When my eyes spoke of the grief in my heart,
Wads flew out to adorn father's worn palm
Like the beads on the waist of a new bride,
Spinning the thread of my nightmare into
a cloth sack so heavy for my tiny shoulders
I hear his maniacal chuckle, unlike
mother's deafening silence which speaks
of similar fate wrapped in sad memories
And my skin crawled, pricked painfully, cutting
short the blooming teenage years about to
leap. From the tiny molds on my chest to
the flowing river between my small thighs
I am christened fertile, mature enough
to satisfy my husband and bring him
heirs. I didn't want to be like Mother
with shattered mirrors of ambitions, hung
over in her hut, while striving to be
accepted by her in-laws and the head.
Then, I see my brothers roam free, walking
the path of patriarchy, smiling their way
up to the top of the chain, chewing books
and opportunities to become leaders
While at thirteen, I am sculpted as an
Antique, sidelined, sent to far-away lands,
forced to bury my dreams as the skies of
my future begins to darken as a girl child.
It is culture, they clamor, I only scoffed
But tomorrow, I will be lost in a
fog of an age-long feud within myself
as the small bride of the rich old merchant
left wandering in the mystic hamlet of
childish fantasies and borrowed dreams.
Scheme | XXXABXXX CAAXXXXXXX CXXBXXDX XXXXDX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101011 1111011011 1011011011 100111101 011110111010 11101001001 101001011 11001101100 0111110010 101011011 1101011111 0101001111 1110100101 110110011 1110111110 1101010101 1000111011 0101001001 1111101110 0111001011 1101101101 0010010110 1111111011 011111011 1110111011 110011101011 11101101101 101111100 111111011 1011101110 11000010101 10100011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,316 |
Words | 255 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 10, 8, 6 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 259 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
About this poem
It's a free verse poem on one of the gender issues my country is facing in these modern times.
Font size:
Written on August 15, 2022
Submitted by Adesuwa2001 on October 28, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:17 min read
- 1 View
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"BORROWED DREAMS" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/142514/borrowed-dreams>.
Discuss this Afeare Deborah poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In