Analysis of Safety in Numbers
The sun is setting and the lake is still.
There are no other people around.
The bugs are becoming fierce,
coyotes howl, and loons unleash their murderous screams.
Bats swoop in off the lake;
I am at the mercy of the wild.
I find an odd comfort in the fact that this same scene
has unfolded for thousands of people before me.
For thousands of years before now.
Perhaps they were not seated
upon a 100% polyester folding chair.
Perhaps they were not scribbling
with a fine point pen upon a crumpled old receipt;
But they were here.
I can feel their spirits like wind howling through the trees,
their histories echoing like the crackle of the fire.
Their presence whispers that I am safe here.
Scheme | XXXXXX XXX XXXXA XXA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111000111 111101001 0110101 0101010111001 110101 111010101 1111100011111 1010110110011 11011011 0110110 01010101 01101100 1011101010101 1101 1111101110101 110010010101010 1101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 674 |
Words | 126 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 3, 5, 3 |
Lines Amount | 17 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 137 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 1 View
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"Safety in Numbers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/83379/safety-in-numbers>.
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