Analysis of Old Patterns
Do not give me a mountain on which to place my ambitions
Do not even give me a pedestal
They are much too close to the surface.
Show me the bottom of the sea
because that’s how far down I’ll have to go to reach them.
I’ll need a whale to swallow me whole first
just not for the reason you think.
Do not give me a crusader's sword to assassinate my heroes with.
I can kill my angels with my demons
but the blood I always end up spilling is my own.
I am both enemy and a martyr.
I knock down my heroes with my fists
because I am afraid the whale will die on the way down
and I will have to leave the warmth of its belly
to grab whatever it is I dropped.
My dreams are on an altar.
I stand
I kneel
I worship
but I can never touch for fear of desecration.
The most imperfect things are the most sacred.
You don’t want to hurt them any more than they are.
Build me a casket for my ambitions
but leave it open
and seal it in a cave by the ocean.
Check again in three days and look to the water.
You will see me walk to the middle of the sea
carrying loaves of bread against my chest
The bread becomes yellow and red fish
who eagerly slip from my arms and find their home beneath my feet.
They will swim deeper as I watch
and I will reach for them too late.
A whale calls to me.
I almost listen.
Scheme | AXXBXXX XAXCXXBX CXXXDXX ADDCBXXXXXBD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111101011111010 1110110100 111111010 11010101 0111111111111 1101110111 11101011 111101110101101 1111101110 101111110111 1111000010 111110111 01110101111011 011111011110 11101111 1111110 11 11 110 1111011110010 01010110110 111111101111 1101011010 11110 0110011010 101011011010 111111010101 1001110111 010110011 1100111101110111 11110111 01111111 01111 1110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,300 |
Words | 289 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 8, 7, 12 |
Lines Amount | 34 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 250 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 67 |
About this poem
I wrote this poem because I made the recent discovery that I have a tendency to sabotage myself whenever I get close to succeeding at something.
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Written on October 06, 2022
Submitted by shawnah.06140 on November 03, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:27 min read
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"Old Patterns" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/145958/old-patterns>.
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