Analysis of His Breath on My Bark
One day I was standing tall, swaying in the breeze
Whispering to my friends who like myself are trees
Enjoying the lush green which had finally come
Far from where any human had ever hum
All of a sudden I felt a gentle stomping in the ground
The bear who often roamed these woods would not make such a sound
Then came clear the shrill yelp of a hound
But such a hound would not make such a pound pound POUND!
Could it be a man?
The horrid creature of childhood stories told by my Great Aunt Fran?
He stomps and devours and moves with such ease
Any desire to consume he would be delighted to seize
The rumblings came closer and my fear grew great
My aunt had warned me that these men were filled with such hate
The voluminous thuds evidenced that he was near
My limbs were shaking because I was filled with such great fear
It seemed from the stop of the rumbling that right beside me was where he decided to park
He came so close that I could feel his breath on my bark
His little hound lay down at the base of my trunk
Like a little boat submerged, my hopes were entirely sunk
The man began to whistle a sprightly little song
I had sudden doubts, maybe my Aunt Fran was wrong
How peaceful the song that was whistled by man's lips
But suddenly into my bark a jagged axe rips!
I had never felt such pain in all my years
If trees had eyes, mine would've been streaming with tears
The man swung his axe many more times
The pain that I endured was caused by the greatest of crimes
One last blow and I fell to the ground
My branches breaking as I hit the earth made such an awful sound
I thought to myself, the pain must be done, the suffering through
I could not believe what he proceeded to do
The hurt only grew worse as I was chopped into pieces
I only wished I could warn all my nephews and nieces
That his peaceful song was entirely a lie
For in a pile, on the ground rest I with not a branch in the sky
What he wanted with me then I could not guess
For a tree without roots or leaves is entirely useless
What I heard next was a tree's worst fear
The crackling of flame was entirely too near
The excruciating pain of burning I never wanted to feel
But as he laid each piece of me into the fire it was all too real
As he pulled out his harmonica and proceeded to play, I screamed
Oh how I wish this was all just something horrible I dreamed!
My whole existence had changed in a flash
Every last bit of me had turned into ash
The wind blew swift and carried me through the air
So that I could travel great distances and my story I could share
Of a man whose songs were entirely charming
Who puts trees through hell and whose intentions are alarming.
Scheme | AABB CCCC DDAA EEFF GGHH IIJJ XXKK CCLL XXMM XXFF NNOO PPQQ RR |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111110110001 10011111111 010011111001 11110101101 110101101010001 01110111111101 111011101 110111110111 11101 010101110111111 11001001111 1001010111101011 010011001111 1111111101111 0010011001111 11010011111111 1110110100110111111011 1111111111111 110111101111 101010111001001 0101110010101 111011011111 110011110111 110001110111 11101110111 111111011011 011111011 01110111101011 111011101 1101011101111101 11110111101001 111011101011 01101111110110 11011111110010 111011010001 1001101111101001 11101111111 101011111010010 111110111 010111010011 0010011101101011 111111110101011111 11111010000101111 111111111010011 1101011001 100111111011 01110101101 11111011000110111 101110010010 11111010101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 2,598 |
Words | 523 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 13 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 162 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 02, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:37 min read
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"His Breath on My Bark" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/73546/his-breath-on-my-bark>.
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