Analysis of Life Eternal
Life Eternal
Her fingers were speckled like
brown chicken’s eggs.
They felt both hard and soft,
sticks in tissue paper.
Her veins were ruptured; rivers
on a decaying landscape.
The room was hot and dark
and smelled of ancient secrets.
Granny’s smell; I wrinkled my nose.
She tried to smile through
her agony, to make me less
afraid as I fidgeted in the chair.
“Be a good boy for your mother”
Her gossamer voice, barely audible
had reached across time and touched me.
“She needs you son, look after her”
I nodded, bewildered by this mystery
but full of dreadful wonder.
“Are you dying Nanny?” Sotto voce.
“Mummy says for me to kiss you”
“Come then son, kiss me on the cheek”
I was hesitant and afraid. She lifted my
child’s hand and gently touched it
with bloodless yet tender lips.
“Are you dying Nanny? I don’t want
you to die” The tears welled unbidden.
“No my child. How can I die when
I live on through you, my beautiful
Grandson. My life is rich, and eternal.”
I did not understand and was uncertain.
Next day brought an empty bed and
and a world of empty hearts.
Now a lifetime on, it is I in the room
waiting for the circle to turn.
I drift in morphine haze and
pray my Granddaughter will understand
I hear the tiny tap on the door and
try to smile so she is not afraid.
She enters, thumb in mouth
and I want to cry for her. I try
to speak but can only croak. I
reach out and see that my fingers
are like brown speckled eggs
Archie Wilson
Scheme | AXBXCDX XXXEXX CAFCFC BEXGXX XHHAAH IXXHIX IXXGGDB H |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010 0100101 1101 111101 10110 0101010 100101 011101 0111010 1111011 11111 01001111 01111001 10111110 0100110100 11011011 11111100 11001011100 1111010 11101011 10111111 11111101 111000011101 1101011 1101101 111010111 1110111 11111111 111111100 111110010 1110101010 11111010 0011101 1011111001 10101011 1101010 1110101 1101011010 111111101 110101 011111011 11111011 11011110 111101 1 1010 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,535 |
Words | 329 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 2 |
Lines Amount | 46 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 140 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
About this poem
The circle of life
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"Life Eternal" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/172990/life-eternal>.
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