Analysis of The memoir of the reluctant prodigal
THE MEMOIR OF THE RELUCTANT PRODIGAL
Father, when I left, I really had no idea where I was going
I really did not see the road ahead of me
For I always knew my anguished desire to return to you
And your anxious desire to take me will lead me home
The school of finitude and fragility of existence has taught me life.
Searching for ultimate truth and unending love
Seem to be the drive that propels men from Light to light
Armed with the freedom even to betray the God whom I sought
In the light of the Word, through the passion and sacrifice,
Disorderly used, abused and misused
Yet I stood on the fertile land of grace
Saved! In spite of my negative living and being carnal
Self-seeking as always, selfish and purblind as ever before
Yet always struggling, always re-affirming, always resuming the march
Standing at the cross-roads of the ancient paths
Gazing into the future of where I am coming
And then if I had listened to all that the Theologians are saying of you
If I had agreed with the severity preachers apportioned to you
If I had accented to penance the mystics says awaits me
Father, I would never have come back
And that I have come back does not mean I will not go again
Am I not still the prisoner of the past?
Still eyeing that path, those by-paths instead of the Way
Often loitering, halting and straying still
Off that way, to those ways that lead away from home
Will you hold out those grace coated arm to welcome me still?
I am too afraid to live long here with you
Always thinking, I am missing a lot out there
I am damn too afraid to die out there
Always sure to die even a slave here
A million times better, than to die rich out there
So father, here, I have come back again
I have left behind those added frenzies of size and price
Those whirlpools of emptiness and hollow friends
Those patch-works of pleasures and pain, apathy and antipathy
Those messy amalgams of bitter-sweet out there
Armed with unconditional trust that you will not leave me alone
With those balms of unconditional love to mend my brokenness
I have come back again
Father, I do not know
I may still go back again
But do not give up on me
I may delay, dawdle and loiter in returning
Yet I will come, I am coming, now am following
No other way, no other path
But this that leads to you, Christ!
Scheme | ABCDEX XXXFXXAXXXB DDCXGX XHEH DIIXIG FXCIXFG XGCBBXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0110010100 101111101101011110 110111010111 111111001010111 01100101111111 01110010010101111 101100100101 1110110111111 110101010101111 0011011010010 0100101001 1111010111 101111001001010 11011100111001 1110011010101001 10101110101 1001010111110 0111110111001011011 111011001001001011 1111001100101011 101110111 011111111111101 11110100101 1101111101101 10100100101 111111110111 11111110111011 11101111111 11011100111 1111011111 111110011 010110111111 1101111101 11101110101101 1111000101 1111100110000100 110010110111 110100111111101 1111010011111 111101 101111 1111101 1111111 1101100100010 1111111011100 11011101 1111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,247 |
Words | 433 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 11, 6, 4, 6, 7, 7 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 261 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 62 |
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Submitted on January 15, 2017
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:10 min read
- 99 Views
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"The memoir of the reluctant prodigal" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/45460/the-memoir-of-the-reluctant-prodigal>.
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