The Test of Time



Snowflakes settle on finch's wings
and quiver slightly as he sings
like bells that peal through winter air.
Yet thousands of years ago, shaggy brown hair
of mammoths was feathered with that same snow
thier heads bent forward to winds that blow
and rosy-hued were their giant tusks
as they lumbered toward the violet dusk.

Starlight falls on a young girl's face
aglow with the love that time can't erase
asleep, all curled up in her bed.
Her blond locks fan about her head
and far away, in Zanzibar
a princess is wishing on that same star
her brown eyes fervent with the light
of moonbeams, stark amid the night.

The high-pitched birdcall of a man
who's standing on the pebbled sand
rings back to a time long gone and past.
Rings back to ears that didn't last
to hear the young birdwatcher's cry
but somewhere, wings flap in the sky
and a pterodactyl feels the breath
of things to come, against his neck.

Every being, every creature
on the Earth or in the ether
is connected by a single string
of life, of love; of everything
and tied together with a bow.
Like green shoots springing from the snow
new hearts are made from laws divine
but all withstand the test of time.
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Submitted on May 01, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

1:06 min read
7

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCXX DDEEFFGG XXHHIIXX JJKKXCXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,138
Words 214
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8, 8

Joelle Nanula

Hey guys!My name is Joelle, and I am an eighth-grader living in Southern California. I have multiple interests, including music, linguistics, and writing, but poetry is by far my favorite. I have been frustrated for a long time by my inability to achieve anything in the poetry realm; I'm one of those teens that has a billion goals but doesn't have the work ethic to reach them; so I'm hoping some of my poems will be found here. As for my flaws, I'm terrible at sports, math is my abhorrence, and I wouldn't be able to tell Japan from Africa on a map. (Aka, I'm horrific at geography and navigation.) Thanks so much for reading! Love ya! Also, if Nick Jonas ever reads this, you're the coolest and most self-actualized person on Earth!Notes About My Poetry:1. "Traces" and "Wandering Hearts" are by far the best poems in my collection thingy, so read 'em!2. There are a bunch of short, meaningless poems here too, so skip past them until you reach the good ones.3. I did take some leaps in posting my more private poems here. Please be sensitive.4. "Always a Choice" is dedicated to all the girls out there who are feeling insecure, or have daunting things going on in their lives right now. I know a couple of people who inspired this poem, and I hope they will understand its meaning and find the courage to carry on.5. I am going to be frequently updating this page, but since only fifteen poems can remain here at a time, I have chosen "Always a Choice," "These Sunsets," "One Memory," "Girl With The Blue Barrette," "Traces," "Wandering Hearts," "What Is Life?," "Forces Within," "The Test of Time," "Snapshots," and "Another's Skin" to be my eleven permanent poems. Therefore, the other four will always be rotating. Gracias!New Additions: - "One," which recently replaced "Flying Away," is about the deep, spiritual way in which every living creature is connected, no matter how removed from one another we may seem.- "Like Starfall" makes absolutely zero sense; don't worry, I'm not dumb. It's just an outpouring of thoughts, and mostly, the emotion you get when sitting alone under the stars and breathing in the clear, cool, delicious air, and you feel like your stomach is flying, and you almost start to cry a little bit because the night is so unnaturally beautiful. You know what I'm saying? Yeah I know, it's a totally weird poem. I'm not gonna leave it up here for very long.- "The Painter" is sort of a deep-ish poem about how, even when rejected by the rest of the world, a person can be happy. Such is the case with the painter, who is ultimately either very old or mentally impaired, but is still content to sit in his yard and paint despite what others think. more…

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