Analysis of From Beginning To End
You want it to make sense
You want it to become clear
Your feigned self importance
No longer precious or dear
But the only one caring
And the one still in doubt
A mirrored reflection
Of what never comes out
The lunch breaks upon you
Again eating alone
Your steak is still raw
Chewed right to the bone
The banter around you
Seems innocent and yet
The shroud that surrounds you
Wards off and deflects
“You gain nothing by trying”
You gain nothing you say
As you begin crying
For those cast astray
That girl in the tall grass
That one in your arms
Went to be with another
When you bartered your charms
Her daughter who’s grown now
Some say looks like you
Could it be then you wonder
When the times were so few
You pay the cashier
And slowly walk out
This bill had been dear
More than you had allowed
With the bone in your pocket
You head back to your desk
As the cry of a mockingbird
Decries and behests
Your pen then runs dry
As you again start to write
On your left eye a sty
All vision in blight
Only then do you notice
Hanging pink and in front
And you know that your future
Now a dog that can’t hunt
So you walk to his office
And sit down in the chair
You look at him soulless
And try not to care
He explains “That he’s sorry”
That “The timing’s not right”
He says that you’re valued
But be gone by tonight
As you clean out your desk
A new feeling partakes
You look up to the ceiling
Knowing all that’s at stake
And that feeling is good
That feeling seems right
As the feeling then pushes
And the feeling alights
You decide now emboldened
To stop on the way home
At the house of that one
You left forever alone
You heard of divorce
And you wonder how bad
The damage it left her
Was it worse than you had
As you slow down your car
She stands in the yard
As you speed up your heart
She says ‘Directions’ how far
She does not recognize you
Have you changed all that much
She looks at you puzzled
As you long for her touch
And you drive away empty
As you drive away cold
And you drive away blackened
From your heart to your soul
But your path is now clear
Though you’ve no place to go
And those things that you’ve feared
Have now rightly been shown
As you walk in the kitchen
The door never had locked
Standing there and still smitten
The one you thought had forgot
“Was that you in the car earlier
Was that you, really you
I couldn’t believe it
Because I still love you, I do”
A reward wrapped in burlap
The priciest kind
Where if never rejected
You are never to find
So make just one promise
To then promise again
To be true to your feelings
—from beginning to end
(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2014)
Scheme | A BX BC D EDF G X GF XF X CHCH X IJ I XF J FB DBX X KX A LM LM N O J ON P N PQMX M KAC X XM X AR XEGX SJSTXX TFUX U Q XR XB XX G E X EX J FX FX V XVN XX X Q |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 1111011 111010 1101011 1010110 001101 010010 111011 011011 011001 11111 11101 010011 110001 011011 11001 1110110 111011 110110 11101 110011 11011 1111010 111011 010111 11111 1111110 101011 11001 01011 11111 111101 1010110 111111 1011010 0101 11111 1101111 111101 11001 1011110 101001 0111110 101111 1111110 011001 111110 01111 1011110 10111 111110 111101 111111 01101 1111010 101111 011011 11011 1010110 00101 111010 111011 101111 1101001 11101 011011 010110 111111 111111 11001 111111 1101011 111101 111111 111110 111101 0110110 111011 0110110 111111 111111 111111 011111 111011 1110010 011011 1010110 0111101 111001100 111101 11011 01111111 001101 0001 1110010 111011 111110 111001 1111110 101011 010010100 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 2,548 |
Words | 512 |
Sentences | 1 |
Stanzas | 56 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 4, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 4, 1, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 4, 6, 4, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 101 |
Letters per line (avg) | 20 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 37 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 9 |
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"From Beginning To End" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 8 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/46033/from-beginning-to-end>.
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