Analysis of Finders Keepers Loosers Weepers

Neil McLeod 1947 (Oxford)



A little bit of pot in a canvas bag
And a wallet full of notes and a piece of rag,
A tooth brush and comb and a letter pack
And a bit of paper with a number on the back,
And a crisp old sheet from a writing pad
Is a folded memory and a poem so sad,
Yet with joy in the lines that live on still
While the love they were for will no longer thrill.
For the cause is lost like the canvas bag
Left by the seat with no name tag.

How can I find that fleeting two?
They won't be in Oxford they were passing through.
I met them in London by the cold roadside
They wanted a lift so I gave them a ride.
They'll pass on down Exeter way
The cost of that lift was dear to pay.
For now I am left with a canvas bag
With a leather flap for a naming tag
All covered with names that student wrote
So when standing so cold at a glance he'd note
The words of his subject written thereon
And his mind would warm as he pondered on
The lecture from where the thought first came,
And the hour of the day when he wrote the name.

Nameless he was and his lady too
Till the old bag was sifted through.
Then a small card came to light
With a name upon it plain to sight.
And I remember the college hall,
Goldsmith's was the name let fall.
Then I wrote this poem and send it down
To the college porter across the town.
I asked him to pin it to the board
Where it might be noticed by the hoard
Of college students passing by
Hoping it might catch the eye.

It did, and so to the English scholar then
I returned the bag again,
With a little bit of pot and a sad love poem
I returned them all to their former home.


Scheme AABBCCDDAA EEFFGGAAHHXXII EEJJKKLLMMNN OOXX
Poetic Form Etheree  (23%)
Metre 01011100101 001011100111 0110100101 0011101010101 0011110101 1010100001011 1110011111 10110111101 1011110101 11011111 11111101 11101010101 1110101011 11001111101 11111001 011111111 1111110101 1010110101 110111101 11101110111 0111011001 0111111101 010110111 001010111101 101101101 10111101 1011111 101011111 010100101 110111 1111100111 1010100101 111111101 111110101 11010101 1011101 11011010101 1010101 1010111001110 1011111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,540
Words 332
Sentences 13
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 10, 14, 12, 4
Lines Amount 40
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 306
Words per stanza (avg) 83
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Submitted by NeilMcLeod on January 01, 2013

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:40 min read
8

Neil McLeod

Born in Oxford, raised in Kenya, past winner of Los Slamgeles Poetry Slam and author of abitingchance.blogspot.comand "The First Thanksgiving".Doctor McLeod is a performing poet who has recited at Highland Games, dinners and Burns Nights for the last 36 years. He is happily married, lives and works in Los Angeles,has three children, and practices as a dentist on Sunset Boulevard:http://www.drneilmcleod.com/He can be contacted by e-mail at drneilmcleod@yahoo.com and will willingly entertain requests to share his work with permission. more…

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