Analysis of Emerson Park
There’s snow there now where once she lay
Alone that Autumn eve,
And though that day seems far away,
I still lamenting grieve …
For she—a daughter, mother, friend—
She pined, I’m sure, in grief:
For hard distraught there came her end
By Death, that surly thief.
She roamed, she roamed through deepest dark,
Alone, no friend to guide,
And when she came upon that park
There on a bench she died.
No tear went forth, nor word was said,
To her who lay asleep—
Til angels by her bed were led
In solace ever deep.
“Awake, dear child, slumber’s past”,
They said in one accord ...
“Come to the warmth and light at last,
For therein is the Lord”.
An Elegy on the Passing of Heather Tripler
Nov. 16. 1973
Oct. 9. 2008
| Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ XXX |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 11111111 011101 01111101 110101 11010101 111101 11011101 111101 11111101 011111 01110111 110111 11111111 101101 11010101 010101 011111 110101 11010111 101101 1110010101101 1 11 |
| Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
| Characters | 873 |
| Words | 173 |
| Sentences | 10 |
| Stanzas | 6 |
| Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3 |
| Lines Amount | 23 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
| Words per line (avg) | 6 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
About this poem
On October 10th, 2008, a woman entered my life who I've never met, and who I'll never forget. When I arrived home from work that day there was a story on the news about a woman who was found dead on a park bench in Grand Junction, Colorado. She was very young, only 34, homeless, and died there alone in the open elements. Her name was Heather Tripler. I can't even begin to explain the overwhelming grief and saddened that hit me after having heard this—a grief and sadness that is fresh with me still. A few days later it snowed, and as I stood there by the front door watching it calmly descend, I couldn’t stop thinking about her—homeless and by herself, all alone in that park. This is when I knew that I had to write about her. I promised myself that I would allow the poem to come to me on its own, to never force it, and to scribe every word as if Heather were standing there next to me. Two years later the poem was complete. Initially, I was just going to keep the poem t more »
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