Analysis of the wolves they howled

Rainer Neumann 1944 (Zwickau)



the wolves they howled

they cut down the Jeffrey pines
one too many of their kind
leaving stumps upon the hill
leaving memories to fill…

once we sat under a canopy
of green branches you and me
bringing back our boyhood times
when the forest was our home
building huts of sticks and boughs
staying safe yet looking around

yes the wolves they howled at night
like they’ve done throughout the ages
tales were told of children missing
when they walked the paths alone…

we played soccer in the field
the grass so lush that summer
picking blue berries for breakfast
and our lunch and dinner too
one day my mother she was bitten
by a snake lying in the bushes

she walked down to the village
to find a doctor for her pain
she had known the suffering of soldiers
she had nursed them back again
we waited in our hut of branches
we prayed for her to come back home

yes the wolves they howled at night
like they’ve done though out the ages
tales were told of children missing
when they walked the paths alone…

our time was endless in the forest
with the squirrels and hedgehogs
we were the path finders searching
for the illusive Elfin king
leaving crumbs and signs to guide us
within the ancient byways

summer ended much too soon
even with just was just one room
for five kids and three adults
time had come to hand it over
travel on as refugees
find that dream our hearts had set on

yes the wolves they howled at night
like they’ve done through out the ages
tales were told of children missing
when they walked the paths alone…


Scheme x xxaa bbxcxx DeFG xhixxe xxxxec DeFG ixffxx xxxhxx DeFG
Poetic Form
Metre 0111 1110101 1110111 1010101 1010011 111100100 1110101 1011011 10101101 1011101 10111001 1011111 11101010 10111010 1110101 1110001 0111110 10110110 01010101 111101110 101100010 1111010 11010101 1110100110 1111101 1100101110 11101111 1011111 11111010 10111010 1110101 1011100010 101001 10011010 10010101 10101111 010101 1010111 10111111 1110101 11111110 101110 111101111 1011111 11111010 10111010 1110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,549
Words 303
Sentences 1
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 6, 4, 6, 6, 4, 6, 6, 4
Lines Amount 47
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 123
Words per stanza (avg) 29

About this poem

After they cut down the trees on the hillside behind our cabin, I thought about my experiences in the forest when I was around 6 years old...this is what came out of that.

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Written on August 17, 2023

Submitted by beckertz on August 28, 2023

1:30 min read
61

Rainer Neumann

Since my retirement I have devoted my life to poetry and pastel drawings. I have had two exhibitions - Cafe Society 2017 and Ebbtide Cafe 2018 and have a current exhibit at HMB Coffee Company. Out of these exhibits I have published two exhibit books as well as a book of pastels produced over a 20 year period - “Fron Pigeon Point to Point Reyes”. Two poetry books - “Intersections of Concern” and “Our time has just begun” have also been published and are available on-line along with three books of fiction and two books of translation - a poetry book and a journal from the second world war. more…

All Rainer Neumann poems | Rainer Neumann Books

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