Analysis of Sweet Sarabande



I stood on the shore of that alpine lake
while a breeze descended over the ridge,
sweeping across that tranquil glassy green tarn
the waves lapped the shore in a sweet sarabande.

Closing my eyes I focused my senses
and listened, saw a little row boat with my father
in it, and heard once again water thumping
and beating, against the hull of the boat he was leading.

Smelling the Postum he poured from his thermos,
I tasted the sandwich he made – liverwurst and mustard
He pulled on the oars heading back to the shore,
as the weather had turned while the day waned.

I remembered the Studebaker, flat black and silver
with its split windshield; we loaded the boat and
headed for home the wipers beating after rain
began, rhythmic as the waves were thumping.

So where was I headed on this trek of mine?
In search of the music of memories,
the self I knew but in age forgot
only seen in the reflection of glassy green tarns.


Scheme XXAB CDEE XBXB DBAE AXBC
Poetic Form Quatrain  (20%)
Metre 111011111 1010101001 10011101011 011010011 1011110110 0101010111110 01011011010 01001011011110 10010111110 110010111010 11101101101 1010111011 1010010011010 1111110010 101101010101 0110101010 11111011111 0110101100 011110101 1010001011011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 927
Words 184
Sentences 6
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 37
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 147
Words per stanza (avg) 34

About this poem

My father has been gone for almost 30 years now, but I still see him everywhere.

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Submitted by GCTHOMAS on January 15, 2024

55 sec read
3

GCThomas

Lover of mountains, gardening, and simple living. A social worker & mental health professional by day; a poet by night. more…

All GCThomas poems | GCThomas Books

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    The repetition of vowel sounds is an example of _______.
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