Analysis of Smoke – Part 2



Thus I was left in limbo,
Totally without fight;
Nobody remained
Who could my fire relight.

I waited in vain for someone to come,
But all were gone, and forgot to return.

All I could do was laugh,
Berating the selfish,
Who did not even leave me,
With the chance of one last wish.

So I tried to recall
Who and what I was:
All my achievements,
All the tests I had passed.

I always worked for
My own just and living needs;
What have all these paper rewards given me?

Was all my education for nothing?
Never has it ever left me with anything.

Was it to this end that
I was silently screaming?
I was yelling in despair,
Without any meaning.


Scheme XAXA XX XBCB XXXX XXC DD XDXD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111010 100011 101 111101 110011111 1101001101 111111 010010 1111011 1011111 11111 10111 11010 101111 1111 1110101 11111001101 111010110 10111011110 111111 1110010 1110001 011010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 613
Words 123
Sentences 9
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 2, 4, 4, 3, 2, 4
Lines Amount 23
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 70
Words per stanza (avg) 18

About this poem

Living in surroundings where the small and unbearable mess of badly burnt humanity can choke the life out of any of us, one can quite easily wish to vanish as smoke, which disappears from the funeral fire. The only wish one should have is that whatever is left behind, it should be the ash (vibhuti).

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Written on September 09, 1998

Submitted by prithvi_d on July 04, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
3

Prithvi Datta

Retired lecturer and consultant building services and alternative generation of Power, Heating and Cooling. Prithvi Datta Global LEED Prof.★; MEEC; CEM; 17,388 Followers & 17,911 connections Wokingham, England, United Kingdom https://www.linkedin.com/in/prithvi-datta-a878202/ more…

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