Analysis of Footprints

Merril Wilson 1948 (Johannesburg)



Footprints left in the sand of life
Show someone walked this way.
Was it you? Or was it me?
Soon to be washed away!

We all leave footprints along the way
That touch others, without our say.
We never know how someone was affected
By the footprints, we left that day.

There are times when our footprints are rough.
Leaving sad feelings, making life tough.
We’d like to smooth them over, and put things right,
Yet it’s hard to erase them, when imbedded in flight.

It’s smart to tread lightly in all that we do.
To treat others, as we’d like to be treated too.
To be kind, and gentle, as we step along
Leaving our footprints, like a sweet song.

Let your footprints tread softly over time.
So that all your tomorrows, are sublime.
Leave sweet memories of your footprints today,
Even though in time, they’ll be washed away.


Scheme XAXA AAXA BBCC DDEE FFAA
Poetic Form Quatrain  (80%)
Tetractys  (25%)
Metre 1100111 11111 1111111 111101 11110101 111001101 1101111010 1011111 111110111 101101011 11111100111 1111011101001 11111001111 111011111101 11101011101 101011011 111110101 111101101 1110011101 1010111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 831
Words 169
Sentences 15
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 127
Words per stanza (avg) 30

About this poem

Footprints describes how we may or may not affect others we encounter during our lives

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Written on September 27, 2023

Submitted by iamrandell on March 08, 2024

50 sec read
108

Merril Wilson

Merril lives in a small town in South Africa where she and her husband retired. She loves poetry that rhymes, shows emotion, imagination and tells a story. more…

All Merril Wilson poems | Merril Wilson Books

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