Analysis of Lanka's Lament

Chandra Kanayson 1956 (Singapore)



LANKA’S LAMENT
(Spare more than just a thought for the Motherland!)
The night skies are lit -
By the fires of anger and angst;
With not an ounce of fuel to light their stoves,
The people are out in the streets in droves.

There is neither milk powder nor flour;
Cinnamon nor cloves -
On the empty shelves lined with dust,
In the stores, that are closed.

Whilst the citizens tilled and toiled,
The leaders - besotten with power;
The country sold,
Filling their treasure troves with gold!

When will the Grace of Benevolence
Descend…….
To calm, the tide of rising violence,
And, feed the desperate cries of hunger,
To silence?

Kanayson Chandra Oct 2022


Scheme XXXXAA BAXX XBCC DXDBD X
Poetic Form Tetractys  (35%)
Metre 101 1111011010 01111 101011001 11111101111 0101100101 1110110110 10011 10101111 001111 10100101 0101110 0101 10110111 110110100 01 1101110100 010101110 110 1101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 662
Words 135
Sentences 7
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 4, 4, 5, 1
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 102
Words per stanza (avg) 23

About this poem

Speaks of recent troubled times in the country of Sri Lanka in the grip of political turmoil and economic deprivation.

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Written on October 29, 2022

Submitted by punyachan99 on October 29, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
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