Lost

by YuePantera

Published April 29, 2012

I silently wait here for your return.
But deep inside, the hope, the burn
For your smile to be seen once again,
Fades quickly away like water to pen.

I still remember my last words to you.
I wish them back, and you too.
The day, still clear, still vivid
In my mind, which I frequently visit, 
From time to time.

At last, I see, that you won't be here,
To see me grow, to calm my fear,
To help me with problems and life,
To give me away to become a wife.

Nobody knows just how much I cry
Every night, with red eyes, for you my
Magnificent father, the one, the only.
But my memories are fading, ever so slowly.

I need you, you know, so much right now.
It's been a year, and I don't know how
To make sense of these feelings I've felt before,
Because everything seems too real to be sure.

My friend... My rock.
You know, it came as a shock.
You were so healthy, so friendly.
It came too suddenly
For me to be ready.

...And so I force these feelings down,
Because I know that you're no longer around.
I'm strong, I'm brave,
But that's just how I behave,
Because no one could see
Just how much you meant to me.

Those dreams you wished were real,
And those words you wanted to say,
But you hid behind yourself and wondered day to day.
You were scared of people's reactions, to face the truth,
You wanted to know the answers, those things you wish you knew.

Those memories start to fade, those smiles faintly glow.
But those feelings you experienced, they will never know.
Your quiet pride in your accomplishments,
That determination you barely wanted to show,
It was what you were glued to,
What all lead to the real you...
That I only knew.
Comments & reviews · 1
User avatar
Kale
Review
Kale wrote a review Review · Jun 25, 2012

Fades quickly away like water to pen.

...what? That simile doesn't even make sense. How does water fade away to pen? It boggles the mind and makes the again/pen rhyme appear with a blazing neon beacon declaring it to be a forced rhyme. And in a rhyming poem, forced rhymes are a real killer, especially the super-obvious ones.

I still remember my last words to you.
I wish them back, and you too.

And here, the meter noticeably differs between the lines. The second is so much shorter than the first, which is a pretty bad idea with pairs of rhyming lines since it throws off the rhythm of the rhyme. And rhythm is the most important part of a rhyme since without it, rhymes don't work. Rhythm is the reason why "the iron pot is very hot" feels like a rhyme while "the very hot pot is iron" does not, even though both phrases use the exact same words.

Right now, the first line has ten syllables while the second only has seven. That's a difference of three whole syllables, which is too big a difference to really work.

Every night, with red eyes, for you my

While it's great that you know that you can use enjambment in rhymes, this particular case of enjambment was quite painful to read. It would become slightly less painful if there was a comma after "you", but even then, the rhythm just feels off.

The thing is, the entire poem is plagued by inconsistencies in the rhythm that sabotage the rhyme. If you could just even out the rhythm, keep it consistent throughout between the rhyming pairs of lines, this poem would flow so much better, and the rhymes would feel much more natural.

One of the simplest ways to make sure rhyming lines match up in rhythm is to count the syllables, like I did earlier. The other way is to read your poem aloud, or get someone to read it aloud to you. You'll be able to hear where the rhymes work or don't, and so you'll be able to get a pretty quick idea of what areas you need to focus on tweaking.

As it stands, this really doesn't work as a rhyming poem.



If you don't sign up for a review team, you're basically saying you're okay with canine amphibian metamorphosis.
— Nate