Analysis of Dead Man's Clothes



                        Dead man’s Clothes

I’m wearing some clothes from my old best friend.
He doesn’t know it, but then, at the end.
He didn’t know much as the brain tumor grew.
It spread through his mind, and the memories flew.

He was loving and kind, and a pain in the ass
As all of us can be. You just have to ask
Our wives, they will say, and it’s not very strange,
“Although I do love him, some things I would change!”

We’d talk and would share tall tales of our lives,
And sometimes shared stories about our wives,
Our hopes and fears about children and friends
And thoughts about crazy political trends

I saw him some weeks before his soul passed.  
I cried when I saw him, my old friend, at last,
With his speech nearly gone, he seemed as one drugged,
But he knew who I was, and as brothers we hugged.

I know he had lived a most hard, complex life
He loved his two daughters. He loved his dear wife.
He hunted and fished and could use many tools,
And he simply could not suffer, gladly, fools.

I think of him now, as I wear his old clothes.
Wherever he is, I hope that he knows
He lives on in the hearts of his wife, family, friends,
He is missed, he is loved, and the love never ends.


Scheme A BBCC XXDD XXEE FFGG HHII AXEE
Poetic Form Tetractys  (24%)
Metre 111 1101111111 111111101 1111101101 11111001001 111001001001 11111111111 101111011101 1111111111 11011111101 00111001101 10101011001 01011001001 1111101111 11111111111 11110111111 111111011011 11111011101 11111011111 11001011101 01101110101 11111111111 0101111111 1110011111001 111111001101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,218
Words 254
Sentences 13
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 127
Words per stanza (avg) 33

About this poem

Written in memory of my best friend, Jim, who passed in 2022.

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Written on March 07, 2023

Submitted by jchslaton on March 07, 2023

Modified on May 02, 2023

1:16 min read
76

Jonathan Slaton

Jonathan Slaton, a retired IT nerd who dabbles in poetry. more…

All Jonathan Slaton poems | Jonathan Slaton Books

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