Analysis of Dark Cloud



Only yesterday,
I lost my voice
to a gust of wind
that stifled
their innocent presence
leaving shreds
of broken humanity
to rubble.

From the four corners
we wept a bucketful
but our collective drop
proved a futile rite
in the throes of transition.

Only yesterday,
the sudden silence
of the rumbling thunder
muffled by the whistling wind
formed a cloud without rain.

The plants in the nursery
have withered and cannot be watered,
for the water in my well
has dried up…

Only yesterday,
a bloody yesterday,
the air of unripe harvest hit our nose,
and paroxysm
of sneezing seized us.

In the throes
of the raging inferno,
our collective echo proved a stifled yawn;
the flame on our horizon
licked clean the soles
of our saintly souls
leaving behind
a heap of broken humanity.

Like the tide,
the crimson river flows freely
to fertilize the famished earth
that now yields nothing but ghostly harvests.


Scheme Axbxcxde xexxf Acxbx dxxx Aagxx gxxfhhbd xdxx
Poetic Form
Metre 1010 1111 10111 110 110010 101 1100100 110 10110 1101 1100101 10101 0011010 1010 01010 1010010 1010101 101011 0100100 110010110 1010011 111 1010 01010 0111101101 01 11011 001 1010010 100101010101 01110010 1101 110101 1001 011100100 101 01010110 1100101 1111011010
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 860
Words 156
Sentences 6
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 8, 5, 5, 4, 5, 8, 4
Lines Amount 39
Letters per line (avg) 19
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 103
Words per stanza (avg) 22

About this poem

The poem captures the tragedy of the human condition as experienced by the victims of terrorist attack in Nigeria and other developing countries. It presents the futility one feels watching such a tragedy unfold.

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Written on August 15, 2021

Submitted by kennethefeh on August 15, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

46 sec read
11

Ken Efeh

Ken Efeh is a Nigerian poet and short story writer. He is the author of "Some Radiance at Nightfall" which appeared in Speaking for the Generations: An Anthology of Contemporary African Short Stories, Trenton, NJ, Africa World Press, 2010; "A Drop of Rain" published in Libations for Nigeria, Naija Do Good, 2018. He is currently working on a collection of short stories. more…

All Ken Efeh poems | Ken Efeh Books

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