Analysis of Vanitas



Rubbing the chalk against walls, off high walls
Tracing the lines on the bricks, all so plain.
When the last bit should end, dispersed in the clay,
I'd use my blood in its stead.

And craving the canvas, the canvas craves color
To it, not to God, I would kneel.
I'd place my desire to go even higher,
To draw where the air is thin.

Were I to delight the grave with my presence
To stop when the piece wasn't done.
I'd feel only pity for spots that were covered,
Disgraced by the spots that were not.

Yet hope that one day, a day like no other,
I'd witness a wall with no absence of color.
A day of remembrance of all I've been through,
A life reduced to a moment of truth.

What then? What purpose my painting would serve?
What meaning the colors would have?
Will there, in the painting, be all the answers,
That desperately seeketh my heart.

Would I be content did I not find the answer
In a world no meaning that has.
Would my hand hesitate to sprinkle some color
To try the drawing again.

Could it be that until I have painted them all
The truth would stay hidden from me.
Would I then have the courage to come to the wall
To lay my first marking on it.


Scheme XAXX BXBX XXXX BBXX XXXX BXBA CXCX
Poetic Form
Metre 1001011111 1001101111 10111101001 1111011 010010010110 11111111 111010111010 1110111 01101011110 11101101 111010111010 01101101 11111011110 110011110110 01101011111 0101101011 1111011011 11001011 11001011010 11000111 111101111010 00111011 11110110110 1101001 111101111011 01111011 111101011101 11111011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,165
Words 252
Sentences 16
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 127
Words per stanza (avg) 32
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Written on March 27, 2023

Submitted by DeBoer on February 24, 2024

1:17 min read
51

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